


Mutations

by Oceanson



Category: Glee, The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Barry and Iris are awesome brothers and sisters, Barry is like Oliver's baby brother, Blaine just didn't know when to quit, F/M, Felicity Smoak is a fangirl, Iris West is a fangirl, M/M, More fangirls to come, More shows will be involved in this crossover, Not Blaine Friendly, Not Blaine or Klaine Friendly, Sebastian Smythe is Barry Allen, hopefully I'll won't have a mental breakdown
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-03-04
Updated: 2016-01-21
Packaged: 2018-03-15 19:01:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 45,926
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3458315
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Oceanson/pseuds/Oceanson
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The timeline is altered permanently due to Reverse-Flash’s time travelling, was it for better or worse? When the impossible two got together, what would happen? Come join the adventure of Barry Allen, with the alias “Sebastian Smythe”, and his two best bros & superheroes: Hunter Clarington and Anders Fung (OC), to find out. Not for Blaine, Finn, Mercedes, Kurt and Klaine-lovers.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Introduction: City of Heroes, Birth of A Legend

**Author's Note:**

> I have always dreamt about a crossover between Glee and The Flash ever since Grant Gustin got the role of Barry Allen, then after a few episodes on the show, I became hopelessly devoted to the pairing Eddie Thawne/Barry Allen, or they called it "Thallen", "Beddie", "Baddie", whatever, I'd go with "Beddie Thallen". Don't get me wrong, I love and ship Westallen and Snowbarry with as much passion as I love and ship Thallen. So please! NO SHIP WARS HERE! They are pointless and a total waste of time and space.
> 
> Anyway, this is just some idea that jumped into my mind and would not leave! Ugh! So here it is: A crossover of Glee and Flash, with some minor Arrow and Justice League. *Sigh… I wonder if I’m losing my mind…*
> 
> Warning: Some violence will be involved. Like my other stories, Dalton Academy Warblers will be the protagonists (As they're my favourite.) while there will be a little of bit New Directions bashing in it. And, this story is NOT for Finn-lovers, Blaine-lovers and Mercedes-lovers, Klaine-lovers should avoid this too. Kurt-lovers… you should probably not read this either.
> 
> Slash, though nothing graphical. Don't like, don't read. Haters, fuck off. Homophobe, fuck off. Flames are strictly prohibited.
> 
> Disclaimer: Everything is AU, some characters might be OOC. English is not my mother tongue so please forgive me if there are any grammatical mistakes. I own nothing other than the OC, Anders Fung and his alias, and the amendments on the plot. The rest of the characters or anything you found similar belongs to their respective owner.

The school bells rang, marking the end of another school day. The boys of Dalton Academy, Westerville, Ohio, gradually walked out of their classrooms. Among the crowd, there were three students, looking just as normal as any student in the school, 6’0, 6’2” and 6’1” tall respectively, with short straight brown hair and green eyes, short straight black hair and black eyes for the third one, aside from their striking appearances, they looked just like your normal classmates. But as soon as the sound of police’s sirens reached their ears. They just looked at each other and with a nod, they vanished into an empty classroom nearby.

 

Several minutes later, without anybody noticing, a window opened and a figure, dressed in a midnight-blue hooded robe with a deep blue domino mask, jumped out and landed gracefully on the tree branch. After making sure everything was clear, he started jumping from tree to tree, well hidden in the dense leaves and branches. Following him were two blurs of light, one is jade green, floating in the air; the other one is red with reddish-orange lightning bolts streaming out, racing on the ground. All three were heading towards to same destination: The place where the police were heading.

 

Meanwhile, in a bank, nine masked thugs were terrifying the staff and customers with their guns and threats.

 

“On your feet! Hands on your head!” One of the thugs barked. Shaking, the hostages did so.

 

“You two, go to the treasury. Take the staff if necessary.” He ordered and two men nodded, grabbing a shaking woman on the ground with them.

 

“Now, I don’t want to get the situation any uglier. Do what I say and I will let you live.” The head of the robbers ordered. At the same time, three figures were crawling along the ventilation ducts. The one in the front glanced down the opening of the duct and saw the two robbers disappeared into the room which led to the treasury, dragging the whimpering woman, making pervert threats all the way along. Using tools from the hidden pocket of his suit, he quietly unscrewed the ventilation door. When the opening was clear, he quietly jumped down, raised his thumbs and two more figures jumped down to the empty corridor.

 

“You two, take down the thugs in the main room and the counter, I will get those two. I don’t want to be seen.” One of the figures whispered. He was wearing a burgundy suite with golden accents throughout which covered most of his body except his eyes and cheek.

 

“Got it. Be careful.” The only figure who had yet to speak whispered back. He was wearing a dark emerald green uniform with black sleeves and leggings, knee-high green boots and white gloves up to his elbow joint. Like the first guy to jump down, he also wore a Domino mask, the only difference was that the colour was emerald green instead of deep blue. A thin layer of green light enveloped him like a protective coating and on his right middle finger, was a shining green ring.

 

The man in red suit winked and disappeared to treasury room while the green and blue guy silently walked towards the main lobby. At the door, the Blue guy took out a vertical bamboo flute and started to play. The sound of the flute startled everyone in the lobby.

 

_“Who’s there?!”_ The two heard the head of the robbers shouted and smirked. Then suddenly, the blue guy’s eyes widened and knelt down. Immediately after that, bullets flew in the air, but the green guy who was right in the bullets’ way remained unharmed as he had put up a protective shield which blocked the metals easily. The door slowly opened and the blue guy got back to his feet, as a head of a robber popped up, he blew his flute again. But instead of sound, a needle shot out from the opening of the instrument and hit the forehead of the thug. The thug dropped cold onto the floor. They heard guns being loaded and they smiled, now that was going to be so much fun… Blue turned to his teammate.

 

“ _It’s your show time now._ ” Blue glanced at the door leading to the counter and mouthed to Green who smiled.

 

Diving into the room, he dodged the bullets firing at him perfectly, when the robber tried to grab one of the staffs, Green narrowed his eyes and the ring on his finger shone even brighter. Just then, a long whip formed from his hand. Green waved the whip which hit the robber wrist with precise aim, preventing the thug from doing more harm to the hostages. Before the robber could get back from his shock, a sword with shining green colour formed in mid-air again. It shot and nailed the robber to the wall, immobilizing him. Another robber tried to get Green him from the back but a kick in the chest sent him flying back, he knocked his head on the wall, rendering him unconscious.

 

While Green was busy in the counter, Blue jumped out into the lobby and caught in a fierce fight with the four thugs remaining with the leader. They must be either too lame or they had awfully underestimate the person they were dealing with, perhaps both, because less than five minutes, all the robbers except the leader were lying on the ground out cold, the leader started to freak out and piss off.

 

“Who are you?!” He demanded.

 

“Need not to know… The only thing you should know is simple: Surrender.” Blue whispered back, a smile on his face.

 

The leader sneered and raised his gun towards Blue.

 

“I demand you to tell me **_WHO ARE YOU?!_** ” He was practically screaming now, Blue’s smile grew bigger.

 

“You don’t **_worth_** to know. Surrender. **_Now._** ” One word command was always the strongest, but the same reply also made the leader snapped. He fired and the bullet narrowly missed Blue’s head by centimetres. Some of the hostages screamed and whimpered. Blue, on the other hand, didn’t flinch, not even a bit.

 

“Fine, you need to do it in the hard way. Then, sorry about that.” Blue whispered and he took out some hidden darts from one of his many hidden pockets. He threw them at the leader who clumsily dodged, but two still hit his arm and leg. Immediately, his limbs started to feel numb.

 

“What have you done to me?!” The head of the robber shrieked as Blue came towards him.

 

“Just a special recipe I invented. Sleep tight.” Blue said simply, approaching the leader like a predator closing in on its prey, his flute in his hand. He swung it at the leader. It hit hard on the back of his neck, knocking him out immediately.

* * *

When everything was over, Blue turned and took the rope of the curtains from the counter and tied the robbers when he heard someone spoke behind him.

 

“I hope you didn't kill him, Musician.”

 

Blue growled at the name and turned to face his teammate.

 

“Of course I didn't! I'm not a murderer, thank you very much. It’s just some drug that could make him pass out long enough for the cops to throw him into jail.” He snapped. “Besides, I told you I have better choices of alias, GL. Musician is just plain lame. Oh, by the way, you guys are safe now.” Blue snapped but his tone softened dramatically when he turned towards the hostages. Just then, Red showed up with the woman being taken to the treasury who looked shaken but was safe.

 

“We need to go now.” Red whispered as he saw the police were approaching.

 

“I’m on it.” Blue whispered. He took out a small black sphere from his pocket and smashed it on the ground. Smoke erupted and the three disappeared in the smoke before the hostages could say a thing or thank them. But as the police cleared out the scene, they were watching afar in silent. Then, as quiet as they came, they disappeared into the evening city without any sound.

 

“So, Musici-” Green began as they went back to Dalton; changed back to their school uniforms and gathered their belongings, but Blue cut him off impatiently.

 

“I told you _not_ to call me that! I have some more choices for my aliases.” He snapped.

 

“But dude! Siren is for women, that’s how the ancient Greeks portrayed them.” GL frowned.

 

“Oh! Excuse me! But that's very sexist! They aimed to make the impression that all women were devils and that sickened me to no end!

 

“Calm down!” GL raised his hands in defence. “But seriously, why don't you just take an alias from a more positive image like ‘ _Euterpan_ ’?”

 

“Euterpan? Named after Euterpe, the Muse of Music?” Blue said, his eyes twinkling.

 

“Uh, yeah. How do you feel about it?” Green asked.

 

“You know…” Blue smiled. “I once thought you were just a culture-deficit meathead, maybe I should reconsider it now, Hunter.”

 

“Hey! I take offence to that! Anders!” Green, or Hunter Clarington, a Caucasian male with emerald green eyes and brown hair Canadian, snapped playfully and Blue, or Fung Tian Hai Anders, an American-born Chinese with black obsidian eyes and ink black hair just laughed.

 

“I’m going to kill you, Anders.” Hunter growled.

 

“You wouldn’t. Or I’m going to tell Kyle what really happened to his drafts when he went to Oa to pay a visit to Hal, Guy and John, mentor and trainers of you two.” Anders said and smirked when Hunter’s face paled dramatically.

 

“ **You. Win.** ” Hunter said with gritting teeth.

 

“You guys, can you be more childish?” Red asked tiredly while chewing on a protein bar. He shoved the bar into his pocket when they entered the school library so they could do their homework. A few hours later, his mobile phone buzzed, signaling a message arrived. He took a look and couldn’t help himself but smile.

 

“Now, who’s the childish one now? Barry.” Hunter whispered and crossed his arms, smirking as Red, or Barry Allen, a Caucasian with lush forest green eyes and brown hair, blushed.

 

“Aww… You look so cute when you blushed.” Anders teased quietly as he took a sip of his milk-tea.

 

“Shut up!” Barry hissed.

 

“Just admit it, when you’re in love, you acted worse than a high school girl asked out by her crush.” Hunter whispered flatly.

 

“Shut up!” Barry hissed again, louder this time, earning a few disapproving glances from nearby students.

 

“ _It’s too cliché, he won’t say he’s in love._ ” Hunter softly sang, enjoying the view of Barry blushing more.

 

“ _Give up, give in. Check the grin you're in love._ ” Anders piped up.

 

“Stop this!” Barry got even louder this time and started to get the attention of the librarian, a stern old woman.

 

“ _Boy, don't be proud. It's OK you're in love._ ” Hunter and Anders sang together and Barry finally lost it.

 

“ **Shut up!** ” He shouted, jumped to his feet.

 

“Sebastian!” The librarian scolded.

 

“Sorry, Madame Pamela, we’re leaving now.” Barry whispered, glaring at his two friends, the only two in Dalton who knew his real identity as Barry Allen, a.k.a. Flash. To other people in the school or in fact, the whole Westerville and surrounding area, there was only one person in his place: Sebastian Smythe, a playboy bastard.

 

“So, what’s about that message?” Anders said as they were now at their dorm room, which was on the first floor on a dormitory called Seiryu. Dalton had a total of five student dormitories. Seiryu aside, there were Suzaku, Byakkou, Genbu and Kirin.

 

“It’s just my team reporting how things were going in Central City. Nothing serious.” Barry replied.

 

“Really? Then why do you smile like that? Not the meerkat smirk you showed when dealing with strangers but the real smile no one besides us had seen.” Hunter pressed on.

 

“Fine, fine, I admit it. My boyfriend just asked if I am doing fine. He also told me that he was going to take me somewhere nice when I got back.” Barry sighed.

 

“You two are disgustingly fluffy.” Anders teased, turning on the music from his laptop. “I’m sure I will have diabetes sooner than I thought.”

 

“You’re just jealous that you don’t have a lover like Barry’s. What’s his name again? Edward? Eduardo?” Hunter teased.

 

“It’s Eddie.” Barry said.

 

“ ** _Barry and Eddie, sitting on a tree-_** ” Anders started and ducked the pillow Barry threw at him.

 

“I swear to whatever’s holy, you’re the most idiotic person I have ever seen.” Barry grumbled.

 

“Hey! I’m just trying to lighten the mood.” Anders defended himself. “We’ve just been back from stopping a bank robbery. It’s good to have some fun, to get some distraction.”

 

“Whatever, so what are we gonna do now?” Barry asked, lying on his bed.

 

“Well…” Anders said, glancing at the clock. “The night is still young, why don’t you tell us your past and something like… how you and your boyfriend came together?”

 

He said with a mischief smile which was soon joined by Hunter.

 

“I don’t even know when you became such a gossip whore…” Barry groaned. Hunter and Anders snickered.

 

“Oh come on. The evolution of the superhero in Central City! Not to mention his love life! Who’s ever got the privilege to hear it on first-hand?!” Anders laughed.

 

“I’m not a hero, Anders.” Barry said quietly.

 

“You’re too humble, man.” Anders said sincerely and Barry sighed.

 

“Well, to understand what I am going to tell you, tell me something first. What was the impression or feel when you met me?” Barry asked.

 

“Hmm… A red blur flashing past at least a dozen blocks within a few seconds.” Anders said.

 

“A gust of wind as it raced past me.” Hunter replied.

 

“Mmhmm. As you two know, I am the fastest man alive. But before all of this happened, my story is simple: I have been running for all my life, usually from those bullies from school or on the streets. Sometimes, I managed to escape, sometimes, well, I didn't.” Barry said.

 

“That stinks.” Hunter whispered.

 

“Nevertheless, I considered myself a lucky person, for I have a loving and warm family. My parents love each other dearly, and both love me unconditionally. Everything is as normal as this, until when I was 11 years old, at that fateful and strange night, when my mother lost her life and my father was sent to jail by a wrong accusation. Not only my happiness was replaced with sorrow, I also need to run away from something far more terrible; something I could never explain; something… impossible.”

 

“I’m sorry.” Anders whispered in a sad voice. Barry didn’t reply. He seemed lost to his memory, about how he came to this, how he got his power in the first place.

* * *

"Gosh! I'm late!" Barry Allen ran along a crowded street of Central City, not bother to notice if he had bumped into the others. For his whole life, he had been running. But he knew very clear that if he got even more late, then his job was going to run away from his hand as well.

 

Meanwhile, outside a bank, a police detective walked out of the building with another police detective: Joe West, the foster father of Barry Allen.

 

"It's the second robbery this week." The police detective, Fred Chyre said.

 

"The teller identified the shooter, it's Clyde Mardon." Joe said and Fred looked horrified.

 

"What?! Oh geez, the Mardon Brothers are back again?!" Fred gasped.

 

"What do we got?" David Singh, the boss of Joe asked.

 

"The perps took the bank, shot the cameras and killed a security guard over there as a chaser." Joe reported as he handed two photos of the Mandon brothers at Central City Police Department to Singh.

 

"I got unis kicking in doors of known and notorious Mardon brothers associates." Joe concluded.

 

"CSI been over it?" Captain Singh further asked. Joe and Fred looked at each other.

 

"Uh… No." Joe replied and Singh groaned impatiently.

 

"Where's Allen?" The captain demanded.

 

And that was the scene when Barry finally showed up, David was discussing him with Joe.

 

"-but Joe, you can't keep on covering for him-" He heard Singh said as he quickly approached them.

 

"CSI! CSI! Coming through!" Barry called as he ran.

 

"-If he's not here, I'm going to have to carry on this investigation without him."

 

"Sorry I'm late. Captain Singh." Barry panted.

 

"And what is it this time, Mr. Allen?" Singh demanded. "Did you forget to set your alarm clock?"

 

He didn't give him any time to response and continued to rant.

 

"And before you answer, I should remind you: the excuse you gave last time was car trouble, wanna know what that one was particularly memorable?"

 

"I do not own a car." Barry replied timidly. Ok, this is embarrassing, but he deserved that. Who told him to be late on work?

 

"He was running an errand for me."

 

Oh, how Barry loved Joe and his voice which was so angelic! Perhaps Joe would never admit it, but the older man always interceded in times like this, no wonder people thought he was covering for Barry. After making sure he hadn't got himself fired, Barry immediately started his investigation, using everything he could use: skills, knowledge and tools, including Chyre's pen, given by his father… before he passed away… Oh crap. Barry humbly apologised as he shoved the pen, now with some animal faecal sample on its tip, into the evidence bag. How ironic is that? Meanwhile, Joe and Singh just stared at each other and shook their heads.

 

When everything was over and Barry got back to his laboratory, his best friend from childhood, Iris West came visit him.

 

"Ok. So I'm ready to see this atom smasher smashing." She walked in with a beautiful coat, some golden-brown flower patterns on the black cloth. Iris stopped in front of Barry, but the man's focus was on somewhere else.

 

"There was a shooting today." Barry said without taking his eyes away from the computer monitor. "You dad needs me to process some evidence, which means I don't know if we'll be able to make it to S.T.A.R. Labs."

 

Iris looked disappointed as she followed Barry around in his lab, to his dining table which was filled with fast food already.

 

"But seeing this thing turn on is like your dream! Your sad little nerdy dream." Iris complained.

 

"And I cancelled a date for this." Iris said as she took a piece of French fries.

 

"Hands off my fries!" Barry immediately grabbed the box put in his arms like it was his treasure. "I didn't even notice when you started eating this much! Yeesh! Unbelievable…"

 

"Hey! I'm stress-eating over my dissertation." Iris defended. "We started selling cronuts at Jitters and I had two already today. If I don't graduate soon, I'm gonna be more a muffin-top than a woman."

 

"You are always amazing." Barry said sincerely before turning back to work, occasionally answer Iris's question like _"What's so important about this particle accelerator anyway?"_ His answer must be really nerdy, because even Iris thought he needed to find a girlfriend. But a girlfriend, he probably would never find one, that's because he had never been interested in women. He learnt about his sexuality when he was in high school, but because of his situation back then, he never came out to anybody. He, himself, also felt that he wouldn't have the time for anything romantic; too many things were bothering him. Apart from those bullies in the campus, he was also trying his very best to reverse the verdict of his mother's murder, cleaning his father's name in jail, who was wrongly accused of murdering his wife.

* * *

“I like this Iris.” Hunter said and Barry glanced at him.

 

“Hate to burst your bubble, bro. But the last person who did that, even if he was not really dating her, he got scared out of his mind by Joe.” Barry said simply.

 

“Oh my, over-protective daddies…”

 

“Uh… Let’s talk about how you and Eddie. When did you two meet?” Anders tried to change the subject.

 

“I’m getting there, young man. Be patient.” Barry said.

* * *

In the end, Barry managed to finish all the tests on time and reported to Joe about the possible hideouts of the Mardon brothers, so he could go to S.T.A.R. Labs to witness the turning on of particle accelerator with Iris and both were thrilled like Christmas had come early.

 

"So Barry, how was your trip? Did you find proof of the impossible in Starling City, or did you just make my dad mad for no reason?" Iris asked as she and Barry walked into the open space outside S.T.A.R. Labs, arms linked.

 

"Actually, while I was away, I had a chance to think about you know, relationships. And well, I'm not in one, and… you're not in one either." Barry said, but started to feel awkward. He didn't want Iris to have the wrong feeling, and he was not ready to come out yet. To be honest, he never really thought of it. "And you're my best friend, Iris."

 

"You're mine too. Why else would I be here?" Iris replied.

 

"That's not what I meant. What I meant-" Barry said but Iris cut him off.

 

"I know what you're gonna say, Barry." Iris stated, looking at his eyes.

 

"I'm not sure you do." Barry whispered and Iris just laughed in a low voice before she looked more serious.

 

"Even though we pretty much grew up in the same house together, and we're kinda like brother and sister, because we're not brother and sister, it can get really weird and awkward to talk to me about relationships." Iris explained, but she also seemed to be a bit confused too.

 

"But I just want you to know, that it shouldn't be awkward. There is nothing that I want more than for you to meet the right person that totally loves and adores you for the amazing guy that you are." Iris said sincerely, Barry felt his eyes started to water. No, that's not the moment.

 

"Took the words right out of my mouth." Barry managed to say, Iris looked amused by him.

 

"Aww… Aren't you glad I know you so well?"

 

In the meantime, Dr. Harrison Wells, Barry's idol got on stage and began his speech and the two turned their focus on the speaker. But things never ran smoothly for Barry, a nameless thief stole Iris's bag which contained her computer. As her companion, Barry immediately ran after him. But a nerd is a nerd, just less than 2 minutes and Barry was got his wind knocked out by the thief. Luckily, Iris didn't lose anything in the end when a police detective intercepted.

* * *

"Who is that guy, and what is he so proud of? So, he caught a mugger." Iris asked when they were back at CCPD.

 

"He's a transfer from Keystone. Started a few weeks ago." Barry explained, looking at the new comer all the time.

 

"Eddie Thawne." He introduced.

 

"Oh, that's Detective Pretty-Boy." Iris said, eyeing Eddie up and down, looking amused. Barry, on the other hand, frowned slightly.

 

"That's what my dad calls him." Iris explained. "Says he actually keeps score when it comes to arrests. He is pretty though."

 

Barry couldn't agree more, Eddie Thawne was very hot. Even in his suit, he could see how perfect the man's physique was, not to mention those short, soft blonde hair, smooth like the finest silk and shining like a pool of liquid gold under the setting sun; like a field of ripe wheat stretching beyond the vast horizon, swaying in waves as the breeze crossed by, and those eyes, those beautiful crystal clear eyes, blue like the most pristine water in the South Pacific; like the ice deep within a glacier that never melted. And his voice, that deep, mature voice that sent vibrations deep within Barry's soul. Barry gulped at his thought. Just then, Eddie turned his head and his eyes met his own, lush forest green met with elegant icy blue. It last only several seconds before Eddie turned back to his colleague. But to Barry, it seemed to be like a life-time. Seeing those eyes piercing him made Barry's heart skip a beat. He also suddenly felt hotter and his mouth got drier. The air-conditioning system didn't crash in the office, did it? Barry thought with his face warming up quickly. Iris looked at him in confusion. Barry humbly excused himself and left in a hurry.

* * *

“ _Ooh…_ ” Hunter and Anders cooed while Barry started to blush.

 

“That’s so sweet.” Hunter said, shaking his head.

 

“This is the cliché and yet **_so_** legendary ‘Love at first sight’… Aww…” Anders cooed.

 

“And you look too cute and silly when you’re shy.” The two said together.

 

“If you continued to tease me, I’m not gonna continue the tale.” Barry threatened and that kept the two quiet.

* * *

Later at that night, a torrential downpour started. Barry went back to his lab, which was dripping water because he forgot to close the skylight. He turned on the TV and tuned it to the News channel. The reporter was reporting the situation of the particle accelerator and the possible effect of the weather to the machine, but Barry was not paying attention to her. He lifted the Central City map he hanged over a board, revealing a section of his past that he had been hiding: The murder of his mother, 14 years ago: The past that Barry had never forgotten and would never forget.

 

The weather continued to deteriorate.Lightning flashed outside the building, huge amount of electricity tore through the air, heating up the molecules to exploding temperature, causing deafening thunders. Countless drops of rain water pounced on the window glasses on the wailing of the gales. To Barry, such stormy weather was like a reflection of his heart. Meanwhile, Joe and Fred managed to find the Mardon brothers in one of the farms that Barry deduced. Unfortunately, Fred was shot in the neck and bled to death by Clyde, and Joe could only watch the two robbers escaped in a plane.

 

Back at his lab, Barry heard an ominous sound coming from the TV, the sound of an alarm from S.T.A.R. Labs. Immediately, he dashed to the TV and listened to the reporter's speech.

 

_"Wait, we are now being told to evacuate the facility. The storm may have caused a malfunction to the primary cooling system. Officials are now trying to shut down the particle accelerator. But so far have been unable to regain-"_

 

And then, the signal was cut off and the screen blackened. Barry looked up at the window, which allowed him to see the place where the particle accelerator was located. Almost instantly, a loud boom rang and a fireball erupted from where the accelerator was supposed to be, shooting up high into the sky like a dragon taking flight, illuminating the storm clouds, forks of yellow lightning bolts shot at every directions. The shockwave generated expanded outward with supersonic speed. The plane that the Mardon brothers was in was unlucky enough to get in the shockwave's path, and as Joe looked up in shock, the plane broke into two as the wave shot past it and exploded.

 

Barry tried to close the skylight but when he tried to do, he noticed that the chemicals in his laboratory were flooding out of their containers like someone was sucking them out. Barry looked up at the skylight and saw a blot of orange lightning plunged down, scattering the glass of the skylight and struck him with million voltages of electricity. Barry shot backward and slammed against the shelves which contained all the chemicals. The glass containers all broke upon the impact, their content soaking and was being absorbed by the unconscious Barry. He felt like he was trapped in a dark tunnel, full of twists and turns, but then, he heard some voices.

 

_"What the hell happened to him?"_ He heard a man's voice asked. Were they talking about him?

 

_"He was hit by lightning."_ Another man's voice replied. Maybe they were.

 

_"How is he still alive?!"_ This time, it was a woman. Wait, alive? What are they talking?

 

_"You can't be in here!"_

 

Then it was the medical terms, people shouting but one was particularly loud and clear.

 

_"I'm family! **Barry!** "_ It was Iris! What happened to her?! Barry tried to shout back, tried to move but to no avail, then a stream of electricity shot in his chest and Barry lost what last ounce of consciousness he was holding on.

* * *

When Barry finally started to regain consciousness, he was aware that someone was blasting Lady Gaga's "Poker Face" in his room, and two people talking.

 

"What are you doing?" A woman's voice asked.

 

"He likes this song." This time, it was a guy.

 

"How could you possibly know that?"

 

"I checked his Facebook page."

 

"Now, you're getting awkward. Why did you even go on his Facebook? Are you stalking him?" The woman asked. The guy stuttered a bit before trying to change the subject.

 

"I mean, he can hear everything, right?"

 

"Don't try to change the subject! But yeah, auditory functions are the last sensory faculties to degenerate." The woman said and the guy was walking away from him, singing along with Lady Gaga. And then, without warning, Barry shot up, taking a huge gasp of air, startling the two persons in the room and the apparatus were screaming.

 

"Oh my God!" A guy, who looked a bit younger than him, with straight shoulder-length black hair gasped.

 

"Where am I?" Barry said in a hoarse voice.

 

"He's up!" The woman said before started checking him. She had long brown hair and looked a stern older sister. By comparison, the guy was like a never age up younger brother.

 

"Doctor Wells, get down to the cortex, like right now." The guy called on his walkie talkie.

 

Barry started to get down his bed, it was until this moment he noticed he wasn't wearing anything but a pair of shorts.

 

"Hey, hey. Relax, relax. Everything's ok, man. You're at S.T.A.R. Labs." The shorter guy tried to smooth him, but it only confused Barry more.

 

"S.T.A.R. Labs? Who… who are you?" He asked.

 

"I'm Cisco Ramon." The guy said and nodded at the woman who shoved him two empty bottles. "She's Caitlin, Doctor Snow."

 

"I need you to urinate in this." Caitlin said but Cisco snatched those bottles away.

 

"Not this second!" Cisco hissed and Barry decided to break it up.

 

"What… what is happening? What is going on?" Barry demanded.

 

"You were struck by lightning, dude." Cisco replied, emphasized on the word "lightning". Barry looked shocked and he turned, to see his image on a monitor. Wait… this can't be happening. When did he…

 

"Lightning… gave me abs?" Barry stared at the image of him with an eight peck.

 

"Your muscles should be atrophied, but instead they're in a chronic and unexplained state of cellular regeneration." Caitlin explained.

 

"Come here, have a seat." Cisco dragged a shocked Barry back to the bed. "You were in a coma."

 

Barry spun his head at him.

 

"Coma?! For how long?"

 

"Nine months." A new voice rang and everyone turned to look at the door. Dr. Harrison Wells were there, but he was now on an electrical wheelchair. Apparently the explosion did a certain damage to the genius as well.

 

"Welcome back, Mr. Allen." Dr. Wells said. "We have a lot to discuss."

* * *

Barry could not believe it. He was walking with Dr. Harrison Wells, his idol, in S.T.A.R. Labs! And talking!

 

"It's hard to believe I'm here." Barry said as they walked past a damaged cage with the name tag Grodd. "I've always wanted to meet you face to face. Well, you certainly went to great length to do it."

 

"S.T.A.R. Labs has not been operational since FEMA categorized us as a class 4 hazardous location. 17 people died that night with many more were injured, myself amongst them." Dr. Wells explained and Barry looked at the genius.

 

"I'm sorry." Barry said.

 

"Don't be." Dr. Wells said as the two reached the particle accelerator, or the place which it used to be. Barry could not help himself but gasp at the sight. The area down below them was like being hit by a 9.0 Richter scale earthquake, then an EF5 tornado blew past before an atomic bomb dropped on it.

 

"What happened?" Barry asked.

 

"Nine months ago, the particle accelerator went online, exactly as planned." Dr. Wells began to explain what Barry had missed over the past 9 months. "For forty-five minutes. I had achieved my life's dream. And then… there was an anomaly. The electron volts became unmeasurable, the ring under us popped, energy from that detonation was thrown into the sky, and that, in turn, seeded a storm cloud-"

 

"-That created a lightning bolt that struck me." Barry finished.

 

"That's right." Dr. Wells replied quietly. A strange silence lingered between the place and the atmosphere got very uncomfortable.

 

"I was recovering myself when I heard about you." The older man said. "The hospital was undergoing unexplainable power outages every time you were going into cardiac arrest, every single time. But in fact, those were all actually, a misdiagnosis. Your heartbeat was beating too fast that the EKG failed to register it."

 

Barry felt his heart ached, it must have been really hard for both Iris and Joe during the past 9 months. But another question still prevailed.

 

"But it didn't explain why I ended up in here, not that I complain." Barry asked.

 

"While I'm not the most popular person in town these days, but thanks to Detective West and his daughter, they gave me the permission to bring you here, where we were able to stabilize you." Wells explained as they returned to the ward. Barry looked at him sharply.

 

"Iris?" Barry asked.

 

"Yes, Iris. She came to see you quite often." Wells nodded. "Sometimes, she came alone. Sometimes, Detective West came alone. Sometimes, both Iris and Detective West came. But most of the time, Iris came with this blonde young man."

 

"Eddie?" Barry asked.

 

"So that's his name? Eddie." Wells asked, looking a bit spaced out. "But yeah, he came by a lot too. When Iris was busying talking with us, asking when you would wake up, if there were going to be any legacies, or something like that, he either just stood by the door or sat on a chair, never looking away from you and Iris."

 

Barry's mind started spinning. Why would Eddie come visit him? They barely knew each other. The total number of sentences the two exchanged, besides the greetings, was less than 10. So why on earth, would Eddie visit him?

 

"Speaking of Iris, she talks a lot." Caitlin said as she walked by them, holding several files in her hands.

 

"Also, she's hot." Cisco piped up and Barry glared at him.

 

"Dude, that's **_my sister_** you're talking about, even though we're not blood-related." Barry warned.

 

"Sorry." Cisco whispered.

 

"Whatever. I need to go." Barry said as he started to walk to the door, he was eager to see Iris again, to hug his beautiful kind sister, to tell her that he was alright.

 

"What? No, you can't!" Caitlin sounded really surprised.

 

"No, no, no, Caitlin's right. Now that you're awake, we need to do more tests. You're still going through changes, many of them were unforeseen and not to mention that there's so much that we don't know." Wells agreed but Barry was determined.

 

"I'm fine, really. I feel normal." Barry reassured them. "Thank you for saving my life."

 

Barry left and Caitlin sighed in exasperation.

 

"Really?" Caitlin snapped while glaring at Dr. Wells, the old man sighed.

 

"Detective West was right on one thing. He can be **_really_** stubborn."

 

"Well, at least we know he's fine." Cisco tried.

 

"How can you be so sure?" Caitlin snapped.

 

Just then, Barry poked his head back in the room.

 

"Can I keep the sweatshirt?" He asked, looking longingly at his idol.

 

"Yeah, keep the sweatshirt." Dr. Wells said.

 

"Sweet!" Barry said in a slightly fan-boy tone before disappearing again.

* * *

“So this is how you get your powers… It’s all due to the lightning.” Anders looked deep in thought.

 

“Not entirely true. It’s the explosion of particle accelerator gave me the powers. The explosion also gave you powers.” Barry explained.

 

“And you got your power after 9 months, I wonder why mine developed so much slower.” Anders said.

 

“I guess it depends on individuals. Some people developed sooner while some were later, just like some of the Green Lantern recruits finished their training sooner while some lagged behind.” Hunter reasoned.

* * *

Barry raced across the crowded streets as he headed towards the Jitters, if everything was still like what they used to be then Iris should still be on her shift. Barry couldn't help himself but smiled. How happy she would be to him awake again. Barry thought as he reached his destination, and here she was, helping some customers with their drinks. She was facing him with her back so it would be an excellent chance for a surprise. Barry opened the door, heard the staff, including Iris welcomed him. He smiled as he started walking towards her. Just then, she turned, looked at him, and gasped. She was so shocked that she almost dropped whatever she was holding in her hands.

 

"Oh my God! You're awake!" Iris put down the bottle she had on her hands and ran towards her brother and pulled him into a fierce hug, tears sliding down her beautiful smooth cheeks. "Why didn't S.T.A.R. Labs call us?"

 

"I just woke up." Barry explained and Iris looked horrified.

 

"What? Just woke up?! Should you even be on your feet?" She started babbling but Barry stopped her.

 

"Iris! I'm… I'm ok."

 

"I watched you die, Barry. You kept dying and your heart kept stopping." Iris looked like she was going to cry, tears started to swim in her eyes again.

 

"Don't worry." Barry reassured her by placing her hand on his chest, where his heart was. "It's still beating."

 

"Beats really fast." Iris said in a shallow voice, feeling the thumps of the heart of his brother, her mind still taking in the information that her brother was awake.

 

Just then when a customer bumped into a waitress, causing the plates and cups she was holding to crash. It was then when the strange thing happened, in front of Barry, time seemed to be slowed down, like someone had pressed the slow button on a TV remote. Everything Barry was seeing was in slow motion, he could even see the droplets of beverages hanging in the air, shaping and re-shaping all the time. It seemed like if he moved, he could grab those falling things. But then, the time flow seemed to return to normal, the china crashed and smashed to pieces. Barry was confused, what had just happened?

 

"My dad is gonna be so happy to see you. Let me get my stuff, ok? I'll be right back." Iris said as she headed towards the staff-only area.

 

For the whole journey from Jitters to the police department, Iris held onto Barry's arms, never let go, fearing if she did then everything would become just a dream and Barry would still be in coma. Nevertheless, she let him go when they reached the department. Joe literally dropped the files he was holding and pulled his foster son into a tight hug, the rest of the police department was gathering around them. Everyone was smiling, even Captain Singh was there too, while he was a strict officer, he still cared about his staff.

 

"Oh, you scared the hell out of us, kid." Joe said as he hugged Barry. "You look ok. Are you really?"

 

"Yeah. Why not?" Barry said before someone caught his eyes. Eddie Thawne was sitting on his desk, he didn't join the group, nor had he said anything, yet he was looking, no, staring at him. His eyes showed that his emotion was in a storm-like situation and was difficult to read. The two continued to look at each other, they both opened their mouths, but before they could say anything, someone interrupted the happy reunion.

 

"Detective West, we've got a 5-50 in progress at Gold City Bank. Two dead. Storm's really picking up on the south side. Grab your rain gear." A police officer reported. Barry sighed internally, why didn't the criminals ever take a break?!

 

"I'm sorry, Barry, I gotta run." Joe said as he started to go to his room and get his things.

 

"Do you need my help?" Barry asked.

 

"No, you take it easy." Surprisingly, it was Captain Singh who said that. "There'll be plenty for you to do once you've settled in. You had missed out 9 months of your work."

 

"Let's go partner." Joe called and Eddie got himself ready. He stood in front of them, looked like he had so many things to say but didn't know how to begin. So all Eddie could say was:

 

"Hey, Allen. Glad to see you."

 

"Thanks, Eddie." Barry replied awkwardly, he wanted to ask if the blonde really visited him with Iris during his coma, but that would be too awkward to ask him in this environment. Luckily, Eddie turned his attention to the person besides him.

 

"Hey, Iris."

 

"Detective, you should go, my dad doesn't like to be kept waiting." She said, Eddie shifted uncomfortably but managed to say "Glad you're back." to Barry one more time before he left too.

 

"The night of the explosion, Clyde Mardon shot and killed Chyre. He and his brother died trying to escape, their plane crash." Iris informed Barry in a sad tone when he saw Fred Chyre's photo under the memorial.

 

"Iris! Got a minute?" A colleague of Joe called and Iris left. Then, Barry noticed a criminal was going to snatch a gun from a nearby officer and without thinking, Barry moved. He got to the man's side, punched him in the back so his trick won't work and left, all within one second. The criminal swore angrily before being taken away. Barry was confused, did he just do that? Was he having that hallucination of time being slowed down again?

 

"You ok?" Iris asked as she raced back to him.

 

"I… I'm fine. I… I just need some air. I'll… I'll call you tonight, alright?" Barry stuttered and tumbled to the door.

* * *

“Aww… Happy reunion!” Anders cooed.

 

“But seriously, dude. Can you be more oblivious? He’s totally crushing on you!” Hunter said.

 

“I’m not aware of it at that moment!” Barry snapped, still blushing a bright red colour. “I don’t know that he’s attracted to men! Besides, there’s something happening and I just couldn’t omit it just then!”

 

“You mean the manifesting of your power?” Anders asked.

 

“Exactly. And Eddie’s strange reaction completely escaped my mind after I stopped the thug to take my colleague’s pistol.” Barry explained.

* * *

In the back alley of CCPD, Barry was trying to figure out what happened. He was so nervous that his hands were shaking, but when he looked down, to his horror and astonishment, his hand was vibrating so fast that he felt it was going to catch on fire by the friction with air.

 

He tried to run, but as he did, he found he was this close to kiss the brick wall, he pulled himself to a stop. He tried again and this time, he was not so lucky, he banged against the back of a cop car, smashing the window and yet, he seemed to be spared, not a scratch on his face. This was not normal.No human could have done that. Barry was desperate to know what happened to him and there was only one place he knew he would find the answer. Immediately, he raced back to S.T.A.R. Labs. Needless to say, Cisco and Caitlin were surprised to see him, and even more surprised when he told them what happened. Immediately, Dr. Wells, Caitlin and Cisco took Barry to an abandoned runway where no settlements were nearby so they could test on him.

 

"You don't really believe he can run that fast, do you?" Caitlin asked, a bit skeptical.

 

"Well, I believe anything is possible, and in a few minutes, maybe you will too." Wells said as Cisco was chatting with Barry.

 

"How does it fit?" Cisco asked.

 

"It's a little snug." Barry said half-honestly, because let's face it, the entire combination of his outfit, particularly the thing he wore on his head, just made him look very idiotic.

 

"At least you'll be moving so fast, no one will see you." Cisco said, silently agreeing that the outfit looked horrible. "See, you thought the world was slowing down, it wasn't. You were moving so fast, it only looked like everyone else was standing still. Dr. Wells will be monitoring your energy output, and Caitlin, your vitals."

 

"What do you do?" Barry asked, noticing the one that he left out.

 

"Why, I make the toys, man. Check it." Cisco handed Barry something with a lightning bolt attached on it.

 

"This, is a two-way headset with a camera I modified. Typically designed to combat battlefield impulse noise, or in your case, potential sonic booms, which would be awesome." Cisco said before taking the weird helmet away.

 

"What?" Caitlin asked a bit impatient when she saw him looking at her.

 

"Nothing. I just noticed you don't smile too much." Barry said.

 

"My once promising career in bio-engineering is over. My boss is in a wheelchair for life. The explosion that put you in a coma, also killed my fiancé. So this blank expression kinda feels like the way to go." Caitlin said flatly.

 

"Sorry." Barry said quietly and Caitlin didn't give him a reply or a look. She just walked away.

 

"Mr. Allen, while I am extremely eager to determine your full range of abilities, I do caution restraint." Dr. Wells said and Barry nodded. He got ready, and then, he launched. His speed was so high it generated a huge gust of wind which knocked Cisco on his butt and sent the papers Caitlin and Dr. Wells brought with them flying in the air. Everyone was looking in shock as they were had the first-hand experience of witnessing something impossible happened.

 

"He just passed 200 knots per hour." Cisco reported as Barry's speed continued to increase at an astounding rate.

 

"That's not possible." Caitlin said in disbelief while Dr. Wells looked at the red blur with a mixture of emotion.

 

Feeling the air rush on his skin, seeing his surroundings flashed by was a brand new experience for Barry. He should be freaked out, but for some reasons, he felt good; he felt free as he ran fast like a… lightning bolt…

 

And then, Barry's mind flashed back to that fateful night, his mom screaming, two lightning bolts were surrounding her, and in one of them, was a man, dressed in a yellow suit, moving as fast as a lightning bolt. Barry's run came to a crash landing and broke his arm as his result.

* * *

"What is all this?" David Singh asked back in CCPD.

 

"Witnesses from the robbery at Gold City Bank. Perp made off with 200 grand, more or less." Joe said as he was waiting for his partner who was at the end of questioning the witnesses.

 

"We're gonna have a sketch artist work with you, if you feel up to it." Eddie said with a warm smile before joining Joe.

 

"Third robbery in a month, where a freakstorm precedes it." He said as they walked back to their desks. "Sounds like one of those Wide World of Weird cases Barry's obsessed with."

 

"He's not obsessed." Joe said half-in-mind.

 

"Guess you haven't read his blog." Eddie whispered and Joe turned to look at him sharply.

 

"Why would you read his blog to begin with?" Joe demanded. "The last time I knew, you two were not very close."

 

Eddie started blushing and muttered, "I just want to know more about him."

 

Shaking his head, Joe changed his subject.

 

"The security cameras at the bank?"

 

"Apparently they all shorted out." Eddie looked a bit relieved when Joe did that, but Joe kept in mind that he would need a talk with his partner soon.

 

"But, we've got a bunch of witnesses here, and they all have cell-phones." Eddie concluded as they looked at the witnesses who were cowering on one side of the department.

 

"The sky went black, and then boom! Outside was inside. It was like there was a thunderstorm, in the bank." A witness told them as they checked the video he recorded.

 

"The windows blew in, it was like a hurricane. Everyone ran for cover." The teller, who met the robber first hand, informed them. She looked terrified.

 

"This is getting even weirder." Eddie said in a hushed tone when Joe identified the car the robber used to get away.

"Weird. It looks like you had a distal radius fracture." Caitlin said as she looked at the X-Ray photo.

 

"Had?" Barry asked, catching the tense she was using.

 

"It's healed. In three hours." Caitlin said as she showed him a new X-Ray photo, the broken bones were one piece again.

 

"How is that even possible?"

 

"We don't know. Yet."

 

"You really need to learn how to stop." Cisco piped in.

 

"What happened out there today? You were moving pretty well, and then something caused you to lose focus." Dr. Wells asked.

 

Sighing, Barry told them what happened in his mind.

 

"I started remembering something. When I was 11, my mother was murdered." He said and that caught the attention of everyone in the room.

 

"It was late, a sound woke me up. I came downstairs, and I saw what looked like a ball of lightning. And inside the lightning, there was a man. He killed my mom. They arrested my dad. He's still sitting in Iron Heights for her murder. Everyone, the cops, the shrink, they… they all told me what I saw was impossible." Barry looked so lost, like the man sitting in front of them was not a mature, nerdy 25 years old young man, but a lost, pained 11 years old child, wandering in sorrow and confusion.

 

"But what if the man who killed my mom was like me?" Barry asked, still looking lost.

 

"Well, I think I can say unequivocally you are one of a kind." Dr. Wells said.

* * *

"Can I help you, Detective?" Iris said as she approached Eddie in Jitters after she finished her shift.

 

"You can stop acting like you can't stand me when your dad's around. It's not like we're dating." The blonde said.

 

"Aww… But I like having my BFF who isn't shot to death because of some misunderstanding." Iris giggled and kissed Eddie on the cheek, but to Barry, who just arrived, it was like the two were having a kiss on the lips. The two separated and looked at him, a bit surprised and uncomfortable.

* * *

 “Someone seems _jeeeeeeeealoooooooooous_ …” Hunter laughed.

 

“And you are getting a bit oblivious too.” Anders pointed out.

 

“Why would you think like that?” Barry asked with a blush on his face.

 

“Well, after all the things Dr. Wells told you: him visiting you, staring at you, not to mention the awkward moment in the police station. If he was in a relationship with Iris or at least had feelings to her, he wouldn’t even bother to do all these things.” Anders pointed out.

 

Barry thought and silently admitted that he was a bit oblivious at that time.

* * *

"You can't tell my dad. I don't want him to get any wrong ideas." Iris said as the two walked.

 

"Doesn't seem like anyone's in on the secret." Barry said a bit bitterly.

 

"When you were in the hospital, Eddie occasionally covered my father's shifts so that we could both be with you." Iris explained.

 

"And sometimes, he came with you." Barry said and Iris looked at him.

 

"You knew? Did those people in S.T.A.R. Labs told you? Well, anyway, I thanked him with a cup of coffee, and here we are." Iris said.

 

"Dating your partner's daughter, it's not against department regulations?" Barry asked and Iris frowned.

 

"Why are you so upset? And we're-"

 

"I just don't like having to lie to your dad, you know?" Barry cut off before Iris could finish her sentence. Then, they heard the police's sirens. They turned and saw a cop car was starting to lose control and Barry pulled Iris away from the danger zone. He looked up and saw the driver in the black Mustang that the police were chasing: The supposedly deceased Clyde Mardon. Immediately, Barry went after him and managed to get the robber out of the car. Then, it happened. Clyde Mardon raised his arms, and a dense white fog started to form around him, it spread outward until the criminal was lost in Barry's sight and induced a car crash which killed the driver.

 

When Joe arrived, to he was cross was an understatement, he was furious. And when Barry told him what happened, he didn't believe him, as expected. It then became another fit of the old argument about what happened to Barry's mom. Hurt by the fact that no one believed him, Barry walked away.

 

"Dad, you're too harsh." Iris looked very displeased at her father's attitude towards Barry before she left too. Eddie then came in and informed Joe that the man who robbed Gold City Bank, was in fact, Clyde Mardon.

 

"But that's impossible, he's dead, right?" Eddie asked.

 

Meanwhile, Barry went to S.T.A.R. Labs and demanded answers. The reply he got from Dr. Wells, however, was extremely unsatisfactory. One thing is certain though: there were more people like him in the world. From the map Dr. Wells created, they could be everywhere. Metahumans, as Dr. Wells named them. But when Dr. Wells told him not to play hero, that he's just a young man who was struck by lightning, Barry just couldn't take anymore.

 

"So that's what all I am to you? A new sub-species that you created and could be used as a tool for you to make money and fame?" Barry snapped as he left. If Joe or Dr. Wells wouldn't believe him, there was one more person he could at least try, a friend he made during his trip in Starling City: The Arrow.

* * *

“See? You can be really oblivious.” Anders said.

 

“Maybe I am.” Barry quietly admitted.

 

“Man. That was low for Dr. Wells to think like that.” Hunter frowned. “And who is this Arrow?”

 

“Well… He gave me permission to tell you guys. Arrow is the protector of Starling, you guys may also know him as… Oliver Queen.” Barry said and Anders spit out the tea he was drinking.

 

“No way… You are a friend of Oliver Queen, the billionaire?!” Anders choked, coughing heavily, Hunter was staring at him with gaping mouths while Barry sighed.

 

“Yes.”

 

“Oh… my… god…” Anders said before he turned to Hunter. “Uh… Hunt? Hunter? Hello? Anyone in there?”

 

He waved his hand in front of Hunter’s eyes. When he got no response, he turned to Barry.

 

“I think you broke him.”

 

“I should have known this will happen… I should have kept it as a secret…” He groaned and face-palmed.

 

“Don’t even think about it. Wow! Oliver Queen! I’m really… really jealous of you right now. But how did you become friends?” Anders asked.

 

“It’s complicated. You see, before the particle accelerator exploded, when I first went to Starling, I didn’t even know the two were actually the same man. It was only when he, as Arrow, got poisoned by his enemy and one of his teammates got desperate and took me to their hideout so I could cure him. It was until **_then_** I put the two and two together. Of course, he wasn’t happy when he woke up and learnt that I know his secret.” Barry explained.

 

“What?! After you saved his life?” Hunter looked appalled, snapping out of his shock.

 

“You need to understand, Hunter. There is a reason why he kept this as a secret. Tell me, why did you wear a mask whenever you have a mission? Why don’t you just go out and yelled in front of the public with _‘I am a new Green Lantern! Come challenge me if you dare.’_?” Barry asked.

 

“Uh… That’s because I need to protect my family and friends.” Hunter said.

 

“I get it. Arrow did that to the same reason.” Anders deduced.

 

“Exactly. But I manage to earn his trust and I gave him a mask that he is still wearing now. We still keep in touch even after I went back to Central City.” Barry said.

* * *

As he ran on the highway to Starling, his mind flashed back to the night his mother died, how the police wrongly accused his father for her murder, the pain and frustration and anguish when no one believed him what he had seen.

 

"I've spent my whole life searching for the impossible. Never imagining that I would become the impossible." Up on a rooftop, Barry told his friend, his brother his story.

 

"So why come to me? Something tells me you didn't just run more than 600 miles, from Missouri to Pennsylvania, just to say hi." The Arrow asked.

 

"All my life I've wanted to just do more. Be more. And now I am." Barry confessed. "But when I get to help someone, I screw up. Chasing the bad guy, and caused the death of an innocent in the way."

 

"If you really do this you're bound to make mistakes. I've made mistakes, and some are still eating my guilt. But the good you do will far outweigh the bad. Let your kindness guide you." Oliver comforted Barry, a sense of proudness in his voice.

 

"What if Wells is right? What if I'm not a hero? What if I'm just some guy who was struck by lightning?" Barry voiced out the thing that troubled his mind the most.

 

"I don't think that bolt of lightning struck you, Barry. I think it chose you, because you are destined to be more." Oliver assured him.

 

"I'm just not sure I'm like you, Oliver. I don't know if I can be some vigilante." Barry voiced his worry.

 

"You can be better. You inspire people in a way that I never could." The vigilante of Starling City said. When Barry looked at him in confusion, he explained. "Watching over your city like a guardian angel, making a difference saving people. In a flash."

 

"Is there anything you can tell me? Any advice you have?" Barry asked like a lost puppy. Oliver chuckled lightly.

 

"You already had it. Take your own advice: Wear a mask." The Arrow put his mask, given by Barry, back on before he shot a grappling hook and swung away like a bat flying in the dark, perfectly blend into the background.

 

"Cool." Barry whispered before he ran back to Central City. Unknown to him, The Arrow was also looking at him, as he raced along the streets, in a red blur of lightning.

 

"Cool." Oliver whispered back.

* * *

"I've been going over unsolved cases from the past 9 months, and there's been a sharp increase in unexplained deaths, and missing people." Barry told Cisco and Caitlin in S.T.A.R. Labs. "Your metahumans have been busy. Now, I'm not blaming you, you didn't mean for any of this to happen, I know that by heart. I know you all lost something; something very important; something you cherished dearly. But I need your help to catch Mardon, and anyone else out there like him. And I can't do it without you, without your support."

 

Caitlin and Cisco looked at each other, their eyes told him that they also agreed on this.

 

"If we're gonna do this, I have something that might help." Cisco said as he walked across the lab and took out a deep red outfit. "It's designed to replace the turnouts firefighters traditionally wear."

 

"I thought if we could do something nice for the community, maybe people wouldn't be so angry at Dr. Wells anymore." Cisco explained. "It's made of a reinforced tri-polymer, heat and abrasive resistant, so it should withstand your moving at high-velocity speed. Also, the aerodynamic design should help you maintain control. Plus, it has built-in sensors, so we can track your vitals, and stay in contact with you from here."

 

"Thanks." Barry looked satisfied. "Now, how do we find Mardon?"

 

"I re-tasked the Labs's satellites to track meteorological abnormalities over Central City." Caitlin said, looking at her tablet. "And we just got a ping. Atmospheric pressure dropped 20 millibars in a matter of seconds. I've tracked it to a farm just west of the city."

 

"That's the farm where the Mardon brothers hid before the explosion…" Barry muttered.

* * *

When Barry finally arrived the scene in his red suit, he just managed to remove a debris flying towards… Joe and Eddie?! Barry kicked the debris away and glimpsed at the two police officer. Joe was staring at him with wide eyes, though he didn't think he noticed his real identity. Eddie, on the other hand, looked unconscious.

 

_"Barry, this thing is getting closer. Wind speeds are 200 miles per hour, and increasing. Keeping up like this, it could become an EF5 tornado."_ Cisco's voice rang in the headset.

 

_"And it's heading towards the city, you copy?"_ Caitlin piped up.

 

"Yeah. Loud and clear." Barry answered. "How do I stop it? What if I unravel it?"

 

_"How the hell are you gonna do that?"_

 

"I'll run around it in the opposite direction, cut off its legs."

 

_"You'd have to clock 700 miles per hour to do that!"_ Cisco shouted.

 

_"Your body may not be able to handle those speeds!"_ Caitlin warned.

 

"I have to try." Barry replied.

 

_"But you'll die!"_ Caitlin shouted but Barry paid no attention to her. He took off, ran around the tornado in the opposite direction.

 

_"The suit's holding up."_ There was a line of smug in Cisco's voice.

 

_"But he's not."_ Caitlin sounded worried.

 

_"He can do it. I know he can do it."_ Cisco replied firmly. But then, a bolt of lightning struck him, sending him flying away.

 

"He's too strong!" Barry yelled. It seemed the destruction of Central City was inevitable, but then Dr. Wells appeared. He humbly asked Barry to stop the madness he created and gave him the encouragement.

 

_"You can do this now, run! Barry, run!"_ Wells said and with a newly found determination, Barry took off. This time, he managed to counteract Clyde Mardon's tornado. And then, everything blackened.

 

Barry got up from the ground, the wailing wind had stopped, his mask was off, and a voice rang behind him.

 

"Hey!" Clyde Mardon said with a gun pointing at him. "I didn't think there was anyone else like me."

 

Glaring at the criminal, Barry said,

 

"I'm not like you. You're a criminal, a murderer. You are **_nothing_** like me, and you will never ever be like me."

 

Clyde sneered before he was being shot to death by Joe, who was still looking but him with wide eyes.

 

_"Barry?"_ He heard Caitlin's call in his headset.

 

"It's over. I'm ok." Barry said and everyone in S.T.A.R. Labs smiled, but not Barry, for he had a long explanation to do. Joe was kneeling in front of him, looking at him like it was the first time he knew him.

 

"How's Eddie?" Barry asked.

 

"What?! This is the first thing you think of? You could have been hurt! Or even die!" Joe cried.

 

"Joe, please. I'm fine and I will explain it to you. But now, Eddie's our concern now. He's hurt, remember?" Barry said as the two got to their feet to check on the blonde, who was staring at the sky.

 

"Eddie, you're awake!" Joe said. "Are you alright?!"

 

"Ugh, my head." Eddie groaned.

 

"Help's on the way, hold on." Barry said, after changing back to his civilian clothes.

 

"I think I have a hallucination." Eddie whispered.

 

"What did you see?" Joe asked.

 

"I… I think I saw a blot of red lightning…" Eddie said, Joe looked at Barry, who looked absolutely horrified. "It cancelled out the tornado."

 

Barry was silently screaming, _"He couldn't know! He couldn't know!"_ And Joe sighed.

 

"You're probably having a concussion. The doctors will help you, hang on." Joe said and Barry mouthed _"Thank you."_ Before they heard the sirens rang from the distance.

* * *

The next morning, Joe and Barry were at the crime scene again, staying in silence.

 

"What you can do…" Joe began. "It was the lightning bolt?

 

"More or less." Barry admitted.

 

"I'm sorry, Barry." Joe apologized and. Barry looked at him. "I'm sorry I didn't believe you. And I called you crazy for chasing the impossible."

 

"But you really did see something that night your mom died." Joe said and Barry nodded.

 

"And your dad is innocent." Another nod.

 

"I need you to promise me something." Joe looked at him in the eyes, pleading.

 

"I don't want you telling Iris about anything you can do. Any of it. I want her safe." He said, Barry nodded.

 

"Promise me." Joe pleaded.

 

"Yeah." Barry whispered.

 

"Will Eddie be a problem?" He asked.

 

"Probably not, but I am going to keep an eye on him." Joe replied and Barry nodded. It wasn't that he didn't want Eddie to find out, it's just… it's not the time yet.

* * *

“So the Detective Pretty-Boy was saved by his destined one but he didn’t even know that and his hero decided to keep quiet.” Hunter concluded.

 

“I don’t even know you watched those romantic shows, Hunt.” Anders said quietly and the said man blushed. Anders and Barry smirked, looks like there would be some teasing in the future.

 

“That’s not the focus!” Was Hunter squeaking? Anders shook his head.

 

“This is far from over, man.” Anders teased and Barry chuckled.

 

“But seriously, dude. Your bromance with Arrow is adorable.” Anders said.

 

“I know. He might not be the best carer, but surely he did offer what the best he had to those he loved. If Roy was like his son, then he saw me as his baby brother, the one who always needed attention and someone to help him whenever he got into trouble.

 

“That’s sweet.”

 

“I know, but that also means he treated me like a child who would never get old…” Barry deadpanned.

 

“Well, in a way, you are younger than him so he has the right to do that.” Hunter reasoned and Barry eyed at him.

 

“Then don’t complain if I treated you the same way he did to me.” Barry said and neither Hunter nor Anders replied.

 

“Let’s just move on, shall we? This is not the end, I can see.” Anders changed the subject.

 

“Of course it was not the end.” Barry said.

* * *

At Iron Height Prison, Barry sat down in the visiting area, facing his father, who looked older every time he visited. The wrinkles on his forehead deepened, grey hair started to creep upward and his eyes looked duller and more tired. All these pained Barry's heart.

 

"Hey, Slugger." Henry Allen greeted.

 

"You've been calling me that since I was eleven. Funny thing is, I finally got into a fight today."

 

"You just got out of a coma. I'm not sure you should be picking fights." His dad didn't look approved.

 

"Hey. Did you win?" And yet, Henry asked, just like he did when everything was normal and they were just a common loving family.

 

"Yeah, I did." Barry replied.

 

"You didn't kill Mom. You know I know that, right?" Barry said that every time he visited his dad, but every time he did, his emotion just started to let loose.

 

"You believing me… is all I need." Henry whispered, a small smile on his face.

 

"You're not gonna be in here much longer." Barry informed his dad. "Whoever killed Mom, whatever killed her, I think I finally have a way to find them, to stop them."

 

"Barry." His dad sighed. "We've talked about this. It's time to let it go. You've got to stop worrying about me, and live your life."

 

"For the first time, I feel like I finally can." Barry chuckled but his words were choking on tears. "The truth is, ever since the night Mom died, I've been stuck in one place, missed out on an awful lot of things."

 

He took a breath before continuing his confession.

 

"But I'm different now, I made some new friends. They're helping me find my way, a purpose, a new meaning of life." Barry said.

 

In the meantime, back in S.T.A.R. Labs, Cisco added a lightning bolt icon onto Barry's new suit.

 

"Why is it shaped like a lightning bolt?" Caitlin asked as she came in.

 

"So it's not boring, and more stylish." Cisco replied. Caitlin just shook her head, with fondness though. She admitted, Cisco really had some talent in giving dull things life, making them special.

 

"And finally move forward. Remember when you wanted me to change my name? So I wouldn't have to deal with people knowing you're my dad. I'm glad they know."

 

Barry took a deep breath as the tears finally burst through the banks.

 

"I'm so proud, to be your son." He said tearfully, sincerely, solemnly and proudly. The old man looked a bit teary-eye too.

 

"I love you, son." It was all Henry Allen could say, but it meant everything to Barry Allen.

 

"I love you too, Dad." Barry choked, but his smile on his face kept on.

 

And thus, if you were on the streets of Central City, you would occasionally see a red blur sped past you and you would lose sight of him just within a blink of an eye. It was Barry Allen, racing along the streets, saving people who were in danger with his new powers, which was now a reminder of who he was:

 

_"My name is Barry Allen, and I am the fastest man alive. A friend recently gave me the idea for a new name. And something tells me, it's gonna catch on."_

* * *

“That’s so sweet and heart-warming.” Hunter concluded.

 

“I’m so envy that you have such awesome friends to stand by you.” Anders said and Barry smiled.

 

“Anders, you have Hunter and me on your back. Your parents and siblings still love you. Your family and you four best friends still supported you as always. You’re not alone.” He said while Hunter nodded in agreement. Anders just smiled, looking a bit teary-eyed.

 

“I think so.” He said and the three hugged.

* * *

Back at S.T.A.R. Labs, Dr. Wells were on his wheelchair, looking at a piece of wall in a deserted corridor. At first, there was nothing, but slowly, part of the wall started to cave in, like it was dissolving, and it revealed a hidden door, led to a hidden room. Dr. Wells navigated his wheelchair into the dark room, once he was through, the door closed so no one could notice that there was a door hidden in the wall. The room lit up slowly and Dr. Wells, who was supposed to be paralyzed from the waist down since the explosion of particle accelerator, stood up. In front of him, lay a glowing monitor. Dr. Wells started to walk towards the monitor like a normal person did, all his apparent handicaps were gone. As he stopped in front of the monitor, with calculating eyes, he looked at the content it was showing: A front-page of a newspaper, and its headline?

 

**"FLASH MISSING"**

**"VANISHES IN CRISIS"**

**"RED SKIES VANISH"**

In between the headline and the section headline was a photo of Barry, in his Flash uniform, and above the headline was the date the newspaper was published. The date?

**"APRIL 25, 2024"**

**TBC…**


	2. Fastest Man Alive, Same Evolving Path

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The timeline is altered permanently due to Reverse-Flash’s time travelling, was it for better or worse? When the impossible two got together, what would happen? Come join the adventure of Barry Allen, with the alias “Sebastian Smythe”, and his two best bros & superheroes: Hunter Clarington and Anders Fung (OC), to find out. Not for Blaine, Finn, Mercedes, Kurt and Klaine-lovers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for all the support, guys. You are all wonderful. So here it is, the second chapter. Hope it is not a disappointment.
> 
> Warning: Some violence will be involved. Like my other stories, Dalton Academy Warblers will be the protagonists (As they're my favourite.) while there will be a little of bit New Directions bashing in it. And, this story is NOT for Finn-lovers, Blaine-lovers and Mercedes-lovers, Klaine-lovers should avoid this too. Kurt-lovers… you should probably not read this either.
> 
> Slash, though nothing graphical. Don't like, don't read. Flames are strictly prohibited.
> 
> Disclaimer: Everything is AU, some characters might be OOC. English is not my mother tongue so please forgive me if there are any grammatical mistakes. I own nothing other than the OC and some amendments on the plot. The rest of the characters belong to their respective owner.

“So about the metahumans, can you tell me more of them? At least those you fought with.” Anders said as he sat down on Hunter’s bed. It was Saturday noon and the owner of the bed was being called to Coast City by Hal Jordan, the first human and the greatest Green Lantern. Needless to say, Hunter would look very tired when he came back. While Hal was a seemingly care free, funny guy, he was very strict when it came to training. Hunter didn’t complain though, for the enemies of Green Lantern could be very powerful and dangerous. It’s better safe than sorry.

 

“There are **_many_** of them, which one do you want to know?” Barry said as he put down his French assignment.

 

“What about the one you fought after the defeat of Clyde Mardon? I mean the second one.”

 

“Oh… You mean Multiplex.” Barry said. “Well, I can tell you that, but to understand how I defeated him, we may need to go a bit earlier in the timeline.”

* * *

 

The sirens of fire trucks blared in the air as the firefighters of Central City Fire Department rushed to a burning house somewhere in the city with a bunch of people being trapped in it. They were still at least two minutes away from the scene and they had their psychological prepared for some casualties. Meanwhile, a woman was screaming for her daughter outside the burning house. When she realised that she was still being trapped in the inferno, she tried to get back into the house, only to be held back by several citizens nearby.

 

The firefighters might be too late for help, but someone was not. In his suit, Barry raced along the streets, heading towards the firing house. Going on by 352 miles per hour, by comparison, he was much faster than the CCFD and could reach the destination in no time. Ok, maybe a bit too fast, since he missed and overshot by six whole blocks, as informed by his friend and teammate, Cisco, back in S.T.A.R. Labs. When he finally got right, he dashed into the house, searching for anyone trapped.

 

Back in S.T.A.R. Labs, Cisco was monitoring and checking Barry’s progress, he was doing fine until…

 

“What are you doing?”

 

Cisco spun around, turned off all the computers in the room and looked at his colleague, Caitlin, with an innocent look.

 

“Nothing.” Cisco replied but Caitlin knew him better.

 

“Who were you talking to?” She asked again.

 

“No one.”

 

“Are you talking to Barry?” Caitlin pressed on as she walked towards him.

 

“Who?” Cisco said, faking innocence.

 

“Barry Allen? Struck by lightning? Was in a coma for nine months? Woke up being able to run faster than the speed of sound? Ring a bell?” Caitlin was now towering in front of him.

 

“No. Haven't talked to him.” Cisco managed to lie without sweating.

 

_“Cisco, there's fire everywhere! Are you still there?!”_ Barry’s voice rang from the speaker, Caitlin and Cisco stared at it before they turned their gaze back towards each other. Cisco put on a smiley face while Caitlin glared at him like a teacher caught her student being naughty.

 

**_Oh snap…_ **

 

Back in the burning house, Barry was still searching for survivors. Then, he heard it. A small, weak cry at the corner, a little girl was hugging herself tight, crying for her mom. She clearly thought that she would die, but the next second, she found herself outside. Immediately, her mom rushed to hug her and the two broke down. Seconds later, other people being trapped also found themselves outside their burning house. Everyone looked confused, how did that happen so quickly? Finally, the fire trucks arrived and Barry had left already.

 

“Everybody’s out.” Barry informed in an empty alley. “You got anything for me, Cisco?”

 

The one who replied him, however, was not the one he expected.

 

_“Barry, it's Caitlin.”_

 

**_……_ **

****

**_Crap!_ **

 

“Hey, Caitlin.” Barry changed his tone to a more casual way. “How's your day?”

 

_“Get back to S.T.A.R. Labs. Now.”_ She particularly emphasized on the word and Barry didn’t have to gut to say no.

 

“On my way.” He timidly said as he raced back to the Lab. But before he started his run, a sense of dizziness struck him. Shrugging that feeling off, he took off.

* * *

 

“Wait, what?! Why would you shrug that off?” Anders gasped. “It was clearly a sign that something’s off in your body!”

 

“You wouldn’t really pay attention to that.” Barry reasoned. “After all, it was just a sense of dizziness. Most people will just ignore that.”

 

“And ignore that may cost their lives. It might be an indication that you’re having a stroke.” Anders deadpanned.

 

“Relax, Andy.” Barry said. “I’m fine. My team and I have got the problem solved.”

 

Anders sighed, still looked a bit worried.

 

“I still think you’ve lost your mind by ignoring that syndrome.” He said.

* * *

 

“Have you both lost your mind?!” Caitlin snapped as she stormed across the room. “Who do you think you are?”

 

“Well, I'm the eyes and ears, and he's the feet.” Cisco said and Caitlin sighed in exasperation.

 

“This isn't funny!” She snapped at Barry. “You could have gotten yourself killed. And you can't be running around the city like some supersonic fireman!”

 

“Why not? This is what we talked about: Me using my speed to do good.” Barry asked with the slightest hint of annoyance.

 

“We talked about you helping us contain other people who might have been affected by the particle accelerator explosion, Metahumans.” The stern woman corrected him. “And aside from Clyde Mardon, who was dead already, we haven't found any.”

 

“But people in this city still need help!” Barry protested. “And I can help them.”

 

“We can help them.” Cisco said and Caitlin groaned.

 

“Will you please say something?” Caitlin started to call for help.

 

“I think what Caitlin is saying, in her own spectacularly angry way, is that we are just beginning to understand what your body is capable of.” Dr. Wells said as he rolled in. “Not to sound like a broken record, Mr. Allen, I **_do_** caution restraint.”

 

“Dr. Wells, I doubt restraint is how you got to be the man you are today.” Barry said impatiently. Caitlin glared at him at the back.

 

“In a wheelchair and a pariah.” Dr. Wells said flatly. “Lack of restraint is what made me these things.”

 

The two looked at each other in the eyes for a moment before the older man sighed.

 

“Know your limits.” He said before rolling away.

 

“Don't expect me to patch you up every time you break something.” Caitlin scolded before walking away.

 

“Hey, uh… Anything happen out there today? The sensors in the suit were kicking back some weird telemetry, like your vitals spiked for a few seconds.” Cisco patted his shoulder and asked in worry.

 

“Never felt better.” Barry lied. Just then, his phone vibrated and Cisco handed it to him. Barry looked at the caller, Joe.

 

“Hey, Joe. Everything all right?” He said.

 

_“Great. I got a fresh crime scene, a dead body. Detectives interviewing witnesses; miles of that yellow tape stretched over everything. I'm only missing one thing. Can you guess what that is?”_ Joe’s voice was full of sarcasm and Barry sighed.

 

“I'll be right there.” He said before ending the call.

 

“My day job beckons.” He silently complained before flashing away, leaving a pool of swirling papers and messing up Caitlin’s beautiful long brown hair.

 

“When do you think he'll realize he didn't take his clothes?” Dr. Wells asked quietly.

* * *

 

“Dude… That’s a bit… low… for saying that in front of a physically handicapped person…” Anders said, Barry shook his head.

 

“I admit, I’m not a mature guy back then, and I am still not. I’m driven by all this passion and hot-headedness, thinking I’m on the top of the world and I’m saving the world from horrible crisis. That’s what I am back these days.” Barry said, Anders looked at him in silent.

 

“Not the typical superhero as you imagine, I suppose?” Barry chuckled.

 

“No.” Anders whispered. “But still, you’re trying to do good, and you have a good heart.”

 

“A good heart and a hot-head combining together is perhaps the worst combination ever. And I made a fool of myself, very often.” Barry admitted.

 

“Like forgetting to bring your clothes?” Anders teased.

 

“That’s just one of them.” Barry said.

* * *

 

And after realising and solving his clothes problem within a blink of an eye; got scolded by Captain Singh again, Barry could finally start working.

 

“I downloaded the surveillance footage off the video camera. Looks like only one perp.” He heard Eddie talked to Joe and Singh, in his sexy deep voice. Oh yes, that sexy, mature, de… Wait… Wait! No! Not this moment! Damn it! Shoving that awkward feeling away, Barry concentrated on his work and immediately found some evidences contradicting Eddie’s claim.

 

“Footage may only show one, but it was six guys.” He said and the three cops looked at him.

 

“Look, the tracks. They're all crossing each other. Six sets of footprints, six guns stolen. We should be looking for a crew.” Barry pointed out and continued his investigation. He immediately found something more.

 

“The shoes, it looks like they're all the same size. Men's tens, I'd guess. Just like you, Captain.” Barry said before he realised what he had done, the three cops were staring at him.

 

“Not that you're a suspect, sir.” Barry quickly added and started to blush. Singh sighed and walked away; Eddie looked like he was trying his best not to laugh; Joe, on the other hand, looked resigned.

 

“Your ability to multi-task is truly remarkable. The way you can embarrass me, the captain, and yourself all at the same time.” Joe scolded when they were back at CCPD.

 

“Joe, I'm sorry.” Barry apologized but Joe cut him off.

 

“I'm starting to think _"Joe, I'm sorry"_ is my actual name considering how often you say it to me.”

 

“I'm dealing with a lot right now.” Barry defended.

 

“Look, I know you are. Believe me, I'm dealing with it, too.” Joe said. “I've always had a very simple set of beliefs: Gravity makes things fall. Water makes things wet. And up until a few weeks ago, I believed the fastest man could run a mile in four minutes, not four seconds.”

 

“I could do it in three… Not relevant.” Barry said but added the latter part after seeing the look Joe gave him.

 

“You haven't said anything to Iris about all this, have you?” Joe asked and Barry looked a bit insulted.

 

“No, I made you a promise. I keep my promises.” Barry said.

 

“Keep on lying like that, you're liable to get struck by lightning again.” Joe said and Barry knew Joe’s not angry at him anymore.

 

“Get up to the lab and start processing the evidence from the gun store.” Joe said and Barry nodded. As he left, Joe remembered how Barry once was a few months after his mother was murdered and his father was arrested. He always tried to run away, and whenever he demanded to see his dad, it always evolved into a shouting match, going even as far as yelling hateful words at each other. Fate had never been good on Barry, and after what happened in S.T.A.R. Labs, his little boy’s future road would only get even rougher, more hostile.

* * *

 

“You can stop laughing now!” Barry snapped at the shivering object on Hunter’s bed and the muffled laughter escaping Ander’s mouth.

 

“Sorry, bro. But…” He started to choke on laughter again. “But that’s just **_sooooo…_** funny.”

 

And Anders spent two more minutes laughing his head off before he finally calmed down.

 

“So what happened next? Did you and Eddie get some interaction? From what you’ve been telling me, you’re ogling at him.” The Asian-American said.

 

“Sorry to disappoint you, but no, we didn’t.” Barry said and Anders pouted.

 

“Aww… But I want more…” He whined.

 

“You watch way too many high school drama shows…” Barry rolled his eyes.

* * *

 

Back in his lab, Barry was doing his investigation, using his new found power to speed up the process when no one was looking until a similar dizziness struck him again. Then, Iris stormed in the place, with this beautiful light pink dress.

 

“This is all **_your_** fault.” She complained. “I could have taken European folklore to cover my sociology requirement, but no. You said, _‘Take journalism, Iris. Reporters have all of the fun.’_ Guess what, Barry? Reporters have none of the fun. Journalism is boring. I'm bored. I blame you.”

 

She finished her rant before noticing he was staring at her.

 

“What? Why are you staring at me like that?”

 

“You look really nice.” He said.

 

“Thanks.” Iris smiled, everyone loved being complimented and appreciated. Who didn’t like that? “Why don't you look nice? This afternoon? Suit and tie? The university is giving Simon Stagg-”

 

“Simon Stagg…” Barry said, trying to remember this. His mind was still on Iris’s outfit, was she having a date? If yes, with who? He had to give that guy who dated his sister a piece of his mind, if he broke her heart, no one would ever find his body.

 

“-Some big award. And you agreed…”

 

“To explain the science stuff for your article. It's all coming back to me now.” Barry said tiredly.

 

“How fast can you get home and change?” Iris asked.

 

“Uh, pretty fast.” Barry said and that was the moment Eddie came in.

 

“Hey, Allen. Joe asked me to see where you're at on the evidence from the gun store shooting.” He said before turning to greet the lady.

 

“Oh hey, Iris.” He greeted.

 

“Detective.” She greeted back.

 

Pushing down the pang of jealousy welling up in his heart, Barry said,

 

“Please, guys, uh, just kiss already. I already know, remember?”

 

Eddie looked confused and he was going to say something but Iris just shook her head and kissed him on the cheek. Her eyes, however, was shimmering and calculating, not in a sinister way, of course. And again, to Barry, it looked like they were kissing on the lips. While Eddie was still confused of why Barry said that, he decided to drop it.

* * *

 

“Dude, I think Iris knew your secret back then. I mean your sexuality.” Anders pointed out.

 

“What? Why would you think like that?” Barry asked.

 

“Just a feeling, I mean, normal people would try to clarify something like that but no, Iris didn’t and I think she’s experimenting if you’re being uncomfortable or being jealous. And if you’re being jealous, then who are you jealous of? She or Eddie.” Anders reasoned. Just then, they heard the door opened and a very tired Hunter crashed into the room. He had a few bruises and cuts on his face, but other than that, he seemed to be fine.

 

“Hard and exhausting day, I guess?” Anders said as Hunter collapsed onto the nearest bed from the door, that was Barry’s bed.

 

“You think…” Hunter panted.

 

“Why is it so early? I thought you said you won’t come back until dinner.” Barry asked, getting the medical box, sat down next to the exhausted man, took off Hunter’s shirt and started treating his wounds.

                            

“The training was cut off.” Hunter said. “Star Sapphire appeared again and Hal had to deal with her.”

 

“And you tried to fight her, I suppose. Otherwise, why would you get these wounds?” Barry said as he started stitching up one of the large cuts on Hunter’s side. It was how the group worked, when Ander’s friend Josephine and older brother Nathan were not there to treat their wounds, they helped each other.

 

“I guess I bit a bit more than I could chew. Anyway, what did I miss?” Hunter sat up after Barry mended all his wounds with his speed power.

 

“You missed how Flash saved the day and made a fool of himself in front of his employer.” Anders said and Hunter’s eyes widened.

 

“Oh no… I can’t believe I missed such good laughing source.” He groaned and slumped down on the bed. Anders laughed, Barry, on the other hand, just sighed.

 

“No worry, Hunt. We’re getting to know how Barry fought with another metahuman.” Anders said happily and that got the other man’s interest.

 

“Really? I need to hear that.” Hunter said in excitement and Barry sighed.

* * *

 

At the lobby of Stagg Industries, Simon Stagg was giving an acknowledgement speech after receiving the reward of _“Man of the Year”_ for his work in organ transplantation.

 

“All right, first things first Simon Stagg's work in cellular cloning has led to huge advancements in the future of organ replacement-” Barry explained but Iris was obviously not paying attention to him.

 

“Are journalists allowed to drink on the job?” She asked after taking two cups of drinks.

 

“Okay. If you are bored already, just wait till we get to the science behind cellular regeneration.” He said and Iris laughed.

 

“I have missed this, Barry. I feel like we haven't spent any quality time together since you woke up from the coma.” She said sincerely.

 

“Yeah, I've had a crazy few weeks, I know.” Barry said.

 

“I thought maybe you'd been avoiding me because of Eddie.” Iris said and Barry frowned. “I know you think it’s wrong, me dating my dad's partner, but I just want to tell you, I-”

 

“No. That is not it. At all.” Barry denied. Iris didn’t look convinced but changed her focus on Stagg instead. But the man didn’t seem to be as nice as he seemed to be. And before they could continue their talk, some robbers came in. The perps were going to shoot a security guard but Barry managed to take him out of harm’s way, he carried on perusing the robbers. Then, suddenly, the same sense of dizziness came again, this time with such intensity and Barry couldn’t stop himself from collapsing onto the ground and blacked out.

* * *

 

“See?! I told you!” Anders snapped. “It could cost your secret, or worse, your life!”

 

“Calm down! Calm down!” Barry handed up both of his hands. “I’m sorry, ok?”

 

“So who found you?” Hunter decided to change the subject. “Is it your boyfriend?”

 

“No, it’s not always the hero saved the beauty.”

 

“Oh so you **_admit_** he’s you hero?” Hunter teased and Barry blushed. “Aww… That’s so sweet.”

* * *

 

As consciousness came back to him, Barry noticed that Iris was kneeling in front of him, worry clearly written on her face.

 

“Barry! I turned around and you were gone.” She asked. “What happened? Are you okay?”

 

“Yeah, yeah, I'm fine.” Barry stuttered, thinking what excuse he could use. “I… I went after them to try and get the plates. And I… I fainted.”

 

When they got back to the building, they found Eddie and Joe on the spot. Undoubtedly, Joe was worried and a bit crossed.

 

“Where were you?” He demanded

 

“Dad, go easy. I found him outside. He fainted.” Iris explained and both Joe and Eddie looked at Barry sharply.

 

“You want me to get you a paramedic, Allen?” Eddie asked.

 

“No, I'm fine. Thanks, Eddie.” Barry said, putting up a smiley face. Iris, on the other hand, noticed this interaction and started to deduce something. Then, they heard the security guard giving a statement.

 

“I thought I was dead. I saw the gun go off, and then… Boom. Suddenly I'm outside. I have no idea how I got there.” He said and Joe glanced at Barry who gulped. Usually that look meant one thing: trouble.

 

“Let me talk to you for a second.” Joe said solemnly and Barry nodded. What they didn’t notice was Eddie’s reaction, his inner mind was in turmoil. So what happened that night was not his hallucination. There was really something fast enough to cancel out the power of a tornado, the red streak. It was real.

 

“You chased those gunmen, didn't you?” Joe asked as they walked, though it sounded more like a statement rather than a question.

 

“Yeah, they must be the same guys that knocked over the gun shop earlier today.” Barry deduced.

 

“And what were you going to do when you caught them? Huh? Ask them nicely to pull over? You're not bulletproof, are you?” Joe demanded.

 

“No, but-”

 

“No more heroics. Chasing bad guys is not your job. It's mine.” Joe said solemnly. “You're not a cop. Promise me.”

 

Barry didn’t look happy, but not wanting to cause a scene here, he agreed.

 

“And you know Iris is not stupid. Start making better excuses than ‘I fainted.’

 

Barry wanted to say something but Joe had walked away already.

* * *

 

“That’s the first thing came to your mind?” Hunter asked. “Getting the plates? I wonder why she believed you.”

 

“Who knows? The mind of a human is a very complicated and beautiful-” Anders started.

 

“Stop that please? I’ve already had a headache, don’t worsen it.” Hunter cut him off.

 

“Fine.” Anders pouted. “And I guess your team was not happy about that, right?”

 

“You had no idea…” Barry whispered.

* * *

 

“You lied to us!” Caitlin’s voice was not loud but with such force it made Barry shiver. “How could you not tell us you're experiencing dizzy spells?! We're your doctors! God knows what's going on inside your body! Your cells are in a constant state of flux! You could be experiencing cardiopulmonary failure or a transient ischemic attack!”

 

“Mini stroke.” Barry said weakly after she finished her long rant.

 

“Probably not.” Caitlin snapped, glared at him for a moment before storming away.

 

“Wow… I haven't seen anyone make her that angry since Ronnie…” Cisco whispered as he handed something to Dr. Wells.

 

“Ronnie was Caitlin's fiancé? The one that died the night of the accelerator explosion?” He whispered to Dr. Wells.

 

“Yeah. He is… missed.” Wells replied, not looking at him.

 

“Now, let's figure out why this is happening to you.” Wells changed the subject.

 

“We're all set.” Cisco informed, they were now in the laboratory now equipped with a treadmill.

 

“A little padding, just in case.” He explained when he saw Barry staring at the wall of S.T.A.R. Labs paper boxes.

 

“You're sure about this, Cisco?” Barry looked around, still anxious.

 

“Most home treadmills have a maximum speed of about 12 miles per hour. This one has been Cisco'ed. Trust me, it can handle your speed.” The engineer assured.

 

“Okay…” Barry didn’t sound too convinced. The treadmill turned on slowly. Then, it accelerated, and in the end, Barry’s limbs was nothing but a blur that almost unable to be detected by human eyes.

 

“Heart rate, blood pressure, nerve conduction all normal.” Caitlin reported in the control room.

 

“Brainwave function within standard limits.” She added.

 

“I told you the treadmill could take it.” Cisco laughed smugly. It was going all good, Barry was running in an astounding speed on the treadmill, so fast that several yellowish orange lightning bolts were emitting from his body. Everything’s normal, nothing bad, until Wells noticed something on the screen…

 

“Caitlin, look at the glucose levels.” Wells said and Caitlin did so. Her face paled immediately.

 

“Oh, my God. Of course…” She sighed. “It was so obvious.”

 

“Right, glucose levels.” Wells agreed and called to the metahuman. “Barry! We think we know why you keep-”

 

Before he could finish the sentence, Barry collapsed and smashed against the wall of paper boxes, out cold. Caitlin made a face, thinking how bad that hit would be.

 

“-Passing out…”

 

Back at CCPD, Joe went to Barry’s lab, only to find no one was there. He did, however, discovered what Barry was hiding and knew where the younger man had gone.

* * *

 

“So, it was **_all_** due to this: low blood glucose level.” Hunter concluded.

 

“Is that the reason why you always had that snack bar with you when we’re on mission? And the ability to eat 12 Big Macs or 6 Mega-size pizza?” Anders asked.

 

“Both are right.” Barry said. “So Anders, no need to worry anymore.”

 

The Asian huffed.

 

“It’s total luck you didn’t have other hidden diseases. We’re keeping an eye on you too, from now on.” He said and Hunter nodded in agreement.

 

“You guys don’t need to do this.” Barry objected.

 

“Don’t even think about it.” Both replied solemnly.

 

“Fine…” Barry sighed.

 

“Speaking of snacks, why don’t we go for a walk? I need some fresh air.” Anders suggested.

 

“I’m in.” Hunter jumped up from Barry’s bed and his two friends looked at him sharply.

 

“But you’re exhausted!” Barry reminded him.

 

“Nah, just some sore muscles. That’s it. I can sleep like a rock tonight.” Hunter shrugged it off like nothing.

 

“If you insist, then why don’t we go to The Lima Bean? I want to grab some drinks. Then we can hang out in the mall and maybe have dinner in BreadstiX.” Anders suggested.

 

“Will we run into the NDs?” Barry frowned.

 

As a member of The Warblers, the show choir of Dalton, he, Hunter and Anders had several meetings with one of their competitors, New Directions from William McKinley High School in Lima, a smaller town next to Westerville. According to their two best friends, Nick Duval and Jeff Sterling, their lead vocal, Blaine Anderson, transferred to McKinley so he could be with his boyfriend, Kurt Hummel, who transferred back to his old high school earlier. It happened last year and the two choirs had been kept in contact since then, even the head of the Warblers, Wes Montgomery had retired so he could concentrate on his senior year as a regular Warbler and Hunter had been the new head of the Warblers since then with Sebastian as his assistant.

 

Until then, Barry and Blaine didn’t have any interactions. To be honest, Barry didn’t even think Blaine remembered him the first few times the dwarf visited his former schoolmates. Everything was changed, however, a few weeks ago, when Barry dragged Blaine into the room where the rest of the Warblers were singing **_“Uptown Girl”_** with this seducing killer smile, Barry also winked at him as a calming reassurance. But somehow, Blaine thought the other man was hinting something else and started to hit on him. Not only Barry got uncomfortable, he also got some nasty bitching from Kurt and the New Directions, even some of the Warblers were giving him stink-eyes too. Barry tried to explain, but after a few attempts and the others practically refused to listen and kept on antagonizing him, he gave up and told Blaine to stop, that he didn’t feel to him that way and he had a boyfriend already. Unfortunately, the dwarf didn’t listen and the only thing Barry could do now was to avoid him as much as possible.

 

“I hope we won’t, but you don’t need to worry. We’ll be there to help you. These morons couldn’t open their eyes to see the truth, but we’re not.” Hunter patted on Barry’s shoulder, assuring him.

 

“Yeah, we’ve got you.” Anders piped up.

 

“Well, let’s go then.” Barry said and the three went to get Ander’s car.

 

“Care to continue to story?” Hunter asked.

* * *

 

“Ugh… Did I pass out again?” Barry groaned as he woke up on the ward again.

 

“Total metabolic failure brought on by acute hypoglycemia.” Caitlin said.

 

“I'm not eating enough. So an I.V. bag and I'm good to go?” Barry asked, still looked exhausted. Cisco, on the other hand, chuckled and showed him a bunch of IV bags. Barry’s jaw dropped.

 

“Try 40. Guess you were thirsty.” Wells said as he casually took a drink.

 

“We're gonna need to fashion you a new diet based on your metabolic changes.” Caitlin, the always serious one, said.

 

“I've done a few calculations. You need to consume an amount equal to roughly, 850 tacos. Unless we're talking cheese and Guacamole, which is like a whole other set of equations.” Cisco said before a new voice rang in the room.

 

“For Mexican, I recommend Tito's. On Bruckner Avenue? Best burrito in the city.” Joe said as he walked in.

 

“Detective West.” Wells greeted. “What brings you to S.T.A.R. Labs?”

 

“When I couldn't find you at your lab, I started doing a little research.” Joe said, looking at Barry. “Turns out, there've been reports of a red streak around the city, stopping muggers, rescuing people from burning buildings.”

 

“You didn't tell him we were working together?” Wells asked and Barry shook his head.

 

“You already have a job in law enforcement, Barry. I suggest you get back to it.” Joe demanded and glared at everyone in the room.

 

“Don't look at me. I'm on your side.” Caitlin defended herself.

 

“Detective.” Wells stepped in. “We all want what's best for Barry.”

 

“If you wanted what was best for Barry, you'd try to talk him out of this lunacy instead of encouraging him going out there risking his life.” Joe snapped.

 

“You saw a man control the weather.” Barry pointed out. “What are the police gonna do against someone like that? Since the accelerator explosion we suspect there may be more like him.”

 

“And you're gonna do what? Catch them? Are you insane? You think because you can run real fast that you're invincible? You're not! You're just a kid. My kid.” Joe started to raise his voice.

 

“I'm not your kid, Joe. And you're not my father.” Barry stood up, he started to lose his temper too. “My father's sitting in Iron Heights, wrongfully convicted. You were wrong about him, and you're wrong about this.”

 

Barry took a deep breath, he didn’t want to yell.

 

“Now I may not be able to help him, but if I can save someone from a burning building or stop some armed thieves, I'm gonna do it.” Barry said and looked at Joe in his eyes. “And you can't stop me. So don't try.”

 

“You think you're so smart. All of you.” Joe snapped. “But you don't know what you don't know. And I hope that you're clever enough to figure it out before somebody gets killed.

* * *

 

“So he tried to forbid you from stopping those lunatics?” Hunter demanded.

 

“You can say it that way.” Barry said.

 

“That’s crazy, man. How on earth were they going to stop those evil metahumans? They had prepared nothing!”

 

“Actually I can understand why he said that.” Anders said as the car stopped at a traffic light and he turned to look at them. “From the point of the father, he wanted to protect you from any chances of getting hurt, it’s just natural. But as a police detective, he was making the wrong decision. From what they had back then, whether it’s psychologically or technically, they would not stand a chance against those evil metahumans.”

 

He turned back to the road as the traffic light turned green.

 

“I hope no one was killed because of that.” He whispered.

* * *

 

Night time, at the port. Everyone had gone home, but two people were still there: The robber who showed up at the Stagg Industries, the other one? The head of security of Stagg Industries.

 

“Where's the rest of your crew?” The head of security, an African-American asked.

 

“Just me.” The robber said, taking off his mask.

 

“What do you want, Black?” The huge African asked.

 

“The only thing I still want in life: Your boss dead.” Black said and the head of security shook his head.

 

“It's not my fault you and your team moved too slow.” He snapped. “I told you where Stagg would be, not how long he'd be there.”

 

“I need his full itinerary.” Black cut in, not bothering to listen. “And security access to his office and home.”

 

“Screw you. I've got a reputation in the security business.” The HoS snapped. “It's one thing if my employer gets iced. It's another if it happens in his bedroom.”

 

“You'll do what I ask, Mr. Java.” Black threatened and the other party snarled.

 

“What the hell are you gonna do to me without your army?” Java sneered and punched Black in the jaw before turning to leave. Then without him noticing, Black started to vibrate, the next second, an exact copy of Black detached from the original body. Two became four; four became six. And Java didn’t even notice the danger he was in until six exact copies of Black attacked him. The only thing he heard before it happened was four simple words.

 

“I am an army.”

 

The next day, Barry was working in his lab as usual, after finishing three whole boxes of Donuts as Joe walked in.

 

“Come to yell at me again?” He sighed tiredly.

 

“Simon Stagg's head of security was murdered last night.” Joe said as he handed some evidence to him. “The coroner took some skin samples. Hopefully they belong to the killer. See if you can find a match.”

 

“Can't be a coincidence that Stagg's benefit was attacked last night.” Barry reasoned.

 

“I'm going to interview Stagg now.” Joe informed. Barry wanted to come but Joe turned him down.

 

“Your job is in here. Stay in here and do it.” Joe objected.

 

“Why is my dad mad at you?” Iris asked as she walked in. She didn’t look happy.

 

“Work stuff.” Barry said before noticing the emotion of his sister. “Why are you mad at me?”

 

“You were supposed to meet me at Jitters to give me some scientific background for my article.” Iris reminded him.

 

“And I didn't show up.” Barry sighed. When did all these get out of hand?

 

“And now I have to come up with a new article topic in 24 hours or I fail the assignment.” Iris said, still crossed.

 

“Iris-” Barry started but was cut off.

 

“Don't say that you're sorry.” Iris said. “Okay, I know that you are.”

 

“What I don't know is what is going on with you.” Iris sighed as she turned her focus to her drink. “We grew up one bedroom down from each other. Do you honestly think that I don't know when you're happy? Or sad or depressed or lost?”

 

“I'm gonna ask you one last time, Barry Allen, and you better be honest with me.” Iris said as she started adding sugar to her coffee. “What the-”

 

Shaking his head, Barry just zoomed next to her.

 

“You want to know what's happening!” He snapped as he zoomed.

 

“I'm fast now!” He zoomed again.

 

“God, I just want to tell you how I feel. And all my secrets.” And again.

 

“But I can't.” He finished and after all the time, Iris still hadn’t finished adding the sugar.

 

“-Hell is going on with you?” But before Barry could answer, the machine beeped, signalling that the testing was completed.

 

“We are not done talking about this.” Iris said and Barry frowned at the result.

 

“That's impossible.” He whispered. “There was a murder last night. These skin cells belong to the murderer, but these cells are naive. Stem cells that they can replicate and become any cell the body needs. They only come from babies.”

 

“This means your killer is what, a newborn?” Iris asked, looking like he was crazy.

* * *

 

“You honestly think that someone wants to kill me?” Simon Stagg said as he and Joe and Eddie walked inside one of the warehouses of Stagg Industries.”

 

“Well, we're not sure, Mr. Stagg, but an event you were being honoured at was robbed at gunpoint.” Eddie pointed out.

 

“And your head of security was found murdered this morning.” Joe added, Simon, on the other hand, didn’t agree.

 

“I am a scientist and a philanthropist. We're not often the targets of assassins.” Simon insisted.

 

“Well… What about lawsuits?” Joe said as he raised some documents. “You got about 20 of those pending against you.”

 

“It is a sad fact of life, Detective, that when you earn a lot of money, people who haven't think they can take yours.”

 

“People like this guy, for example? Danton Black?” Joe said as he took out a photo, it was the robber and the one who killed Java, and he was now in the elevator, in the same building of them, just him, one person.

 

“Danton Black.” Simon said as he looked at the photo.

 

“You fired him. Now he's suing you.” Joe added.

 

“Unfortunately, our working relationship wasn't successful, but I can assure you both of one thing: Danton Black Is not a killer. He's a clinical researcher, not a criminal mastermind.” Simon said. The elevator door opened and three Danton Blacks came out.

 

“Now, if I can help you in any way, please let me know. I want these people caught as much as you.”

 

“Then here we are!” Three voices rang and Joe and Eddie pushed Stagg to run. Pistols went singing and bullets flew. Simon, Joe and Eddie could only duck.

 

Back at CCPD, Barry watched in confusion as the cops were rushing out, taking guns and bullet-proved vests with them.

 

“Captain, what's going on?” He asked.

 

“Not now, Barry. An armed gunman is shooting up Stagg industries.” Singh said as he left the room.

 

“Joe's there.” Barry whispered and he knew what he needed to do.

 

“Get him out of here. I'll cover you.” Joe panted and Eddie nodded. Joe fired his gun and shot one of the figures, only to see another copy detached from another copy immediately. The enemies were approaching and guns continued to fire until Barry showed up and took away all the guns. Barry told Joe to flee but the detective refused. Sighing in defeat, Barry took him out of the warehouse in a lightning speed before going back in.

 

“Whoever you are, give yourself up.”

 

“Sorry.” One of the figures said. “We are not going anywhere.”

 

“Until Simon Stagg is dead.” All three said in unison. The two metahumans then started fighting, but every time Barry took down one, two more copies appeared. It was like a modern version of Lernaean Hydra and Barry soon found himself being beaten by a bunch of Danton Blacks. He managed to escape, barely.

 

“The abrasions are already rapidly healing.” Caitlin said tenderly after Barry got back to S.T.A.R. Labs to report his situation.

 

“Yeah, I got my ass handed to me.” Barry groaned.

 

“You got blood on my suit.” Cisco accused and Caitlin glared at him like was it the only thing he could think of at the moment?!

 

“I think some of it belongs to him. Another not-so-friendly metahuman.” Barry said as Dr. Wells identified the owner of the blood.

 

“Danton Black.” Wells read the file. “He's a bio-geneticist specialized in therapeutic cloning, growing new organs to replace failing ones.”

 

“Apparently Stagg stole his research and then fired him.” Caitlin said with a hint of disgust in her voice.

 

“I saw Black create duplicates from his own body.” Barry told them what he discovered.

 

“That's pretty ironic.” Cisco joked. “The guy specialized in cloning and now he can make Xeroxes of himself.”

 

“If he was experimenting on himself when he was exposed to the dark matter wave released by the particle accelerator explosion…” Wells deduced what could possibly cause the change.

 

“Meet Captain Clone.” Cisco piped in and both Caitlin and Barry stared at him, telling him _“Is that all you have got?!”_.

 

“Don't worry. I'll come up with something cooler.” Cisco started blushing. Barry just shook his head and walked to the door.

 

“Where are you going?” Caitlin asked.

 

“Joe was right.” Barry said. “I'm in way over my head. Yeah, I'm fast, but I am no warrior. I could barely fight one meta-human, let alone six.”

 

“Barry, I understand. Today was a setback. But any grand enterprise has them.” Wells started. “And we can never learn to fly without crashing a few times.”

 

“This wasn't a grand enterprise, Dr. Wells.” Barry said. “This was a mistake.”

 

Barry left and Wells decided that this must be stopped, and he knew who could stop this situation from worsening. Meanwhile, Barry was running around the city, thinking back on his life how he always tried to help his father but in the end, screwed everything up.

* * *

 

“Ah… So the Archenemy finally showed up.” Hunter said as they entered Lima Bean. Lucky day for Barry, both NDs and the rest of Warblers were not there. The trio chose a remote table in Lima Bean, Barry’s face was facing away the door so in case someone showed up there would be less chance for Barry to be recognized.

 

“I don’t like this Simon Stagg in the first place, the impression he gave me was just very hostile and arrogant. Now, I understood why. A real philanthropist wouldn’t have so many enemies.” Anders said as he handed them their orders.

 

“And you gave up so soon?” Hunter added, looking a bit disappointed.

 

“After what happened and remembered what Joe told me, it was easy to fall into that kind of impression.” Barry explained.

 

“And what gave you back your courage?” Anders asked.

 

“It was the same person.” Barry said with a smile on his face. “Every person, whether you have superpowers or not, heroes or not, the evolving path is always the same: We all need encouragements and trusts from the one we loved.”

* * *

 

_“Detective, was the gunman apprehended?”_ Barry heard the reported in the TV asked as he went in a restaurant where he saw Iris and Eddie.

 

_“The shooter's whereabouts are unknown at this time.”_ The Eddie in the TV replied. _“We consider him armed and extremely dangerous. Thank you. No more questions.”_

 

“Nice work, Eddie.” Barry said half-heartedly.

 

“Nah. Right place, right time.” Eddie laughed it off, but his face started to turn pink. Iris giggled at the sight.

 

“No, you were a hero today.” Barry smiled and Eddie gulped, like he was trying to say something more but instead, the following came out.

 

“CCPD still has a killer on the loose.” Eddie said as he stared at Barry. “I should get back to the precinct.”

 

“So did you come here for caffeine? Or are you finally gonna tell me what's going on with you?” Iris asked and Barry just looked at her. He wanted to say a lot of things, but nothing could come out. They just stared at each other in silence.

* * *

 

“Mr. Stagg, I wish you would reconsider our offer for protective custody.” Back at CCPD, Joe tried his best to convince Stagg to listen to his suggestions, but so far, to no avail. “Danton Black has proven he is willing to kill, and he's got uh… friends. And trust me, they're all dangerous.”

 

“I've increased my security, Detective.” Simon said, with a sense of arrogance in his voice. “I hope Black comes looking for trouble, `cause he'll find plenty.”

 

Someone clapped in a mocking way at the door. The two turned and saw Dr. Wells.

 

“Spoken like a true philanthropist. Or is it humanitarian?” Wells mocked. “I'm sorry. I… I can never remember which one you're pretending to be, Simon.”

“Harrison, don't get up.” Simon mocked, in an impolite way.

 

“Ha-ha!” Wells retorted and Simon left.

 

“Another fan of yours, Doctor?” Joe pointed at the leaving figure.

 

“Can we talk, Detective?” Wells didn’t answer Joe’s question.

* * *

 

“I really hate this Simon Stagg…” Hunter hissed in anger.

 

“You’re not the only one.” Anders said.

 

“Actually, I don’t think many people like him. Or how else would he have 20 lawsuits against him?” Barry said.

* * *

 

“So you were right. Barry's not the only one who's special.” Joe said as he and Wells walked to his office. “This guy that tried to kill Simon Stagg today, he could… replicate spontaneously.

 

“Yeah, we know.”

 

“Did you know about Barry? When he was first in his coma you came to the hospital, and you asked me if you could take him to S.T.A.R. Labs. Did you know what he could do?” Joe asked and Wells laughed.

 

“I had my suspicions that he was affected.” The paralyzed man admitted. “But I was never looking to become the senior member of a secret crime fighting unit. You and I both know we are the only ones equipped to protect Central City.”

 

“Maybe I'm more interested in protecting Barry.” Joe said, crossing his arms. “But of course he's all set to fly into the fire right along with you.”

 

“Not anymore.” Wells said casually and when he saw Joe’s look of confusion, he added.

 

“He quit.”

 

“He didn't tell you?” Wells asked at the look Joe gave him.

 

“I haven't seen him.” Joe confessed.

 

“Well, I'm sure it's only temporary. From what I know of Barry, when he sets his mind to something No one's gonna talk him out of it.” Wells put himself to a more solemn stance. “But the next time he suits up, runs headlong into danger, he will fail. And why? He doesn't think he's capable.”

 

“Doubt **_is_** his real enemy, Joe.” Wells said, looking at the other man straight in the eye. “Not whatever's lurking out there. And as long as you continue to doubt him, he'll keep doubting himself.”

 

The two looked at each other in silence.

 

“And for the record, I care about him, too.” Wells said before he rolled away, leaving Joe deep in thought.

 

“Guess you were hungry.” Iris said as she came back to Barry and found he had finished eight plates of food.

 

“Stress eating.” Barry said in his muffled voice. “I came to say I'm sorry. And you're right. I have been distant.”

 

“Correct.” Iris replied.

 

“Kind of a jerk.” Barry timidly added and Iris laughed in a low voice.

 

“You should apologize more often. You are really sensational at it.” Iris joked.

 

“So… What were you going to tell me the other day?”

 

“I thought I had to do something.” Barry confessed. “Something I thought was important, but it turns out that I'm not very good at it, but what I am good at is being your friend. So if you need help coming up with a new topic for your article-”

 

“I found one. Something that actually interests me.” Iris cut him off and showed him her laptop, but when Barry saw what she was talking about, his smile vanished and all he could think of was: _Holy shit, NO!_

 

“I know this is gonna sound crazy but it's been all over the Internet this week. At a building fire, at a bank heist Even the other night when those robbers shot at the security guard, he said he was whooshed outside.” Iris said as she opened all the news articles that include one thing: A Red Streak.

 

**_Oh no… No! No! No!_ **

“Something out there is saving people.” Iris concluded.

 

“I thought you were taking journalism.” Barry said, his heart was banging heavily in his rib cage, sweats started to appear on his forehead. “Not science fiction writing.”

 

“Ever since I have known you, you have believed in the impossible.” Iris retorted. “What if you were right? What if you were right about the night that your mom died?”

 

Before Barry could say anything, his phone buzzed. He excused himself and looked at the caller, it was Caitlin.

 

“Look, I told you I'm through.” He said.

_“I know, but you need to get to S.T.A.R. Labs right now!”_ Caitlin’s voice sounded frantic and when Barry rushed to the scene, he saw it, Danton Black, in S.T.A.R. Labs. He was going to give him a punch but Caitlin stopped him.

 

“Barry, it's okay.” She tried to calm him down.

 

“It is not okay! Black is here!” He shouted back.

 

“And he's just standing there.” He said as realisation started to dawn on him. “That's not him, is it?”

 

“It's one of his replicates.”

 

“How did you get it?” Barry asked.

 

“I grew him.” Caitlin explained. “I isolated a sample of Black's blood from you suit to see if I could trigger the in vitro cultivation process and learn how Black multiplies. So I exposed the target cells to a protein gel, and they began replicating into that.”

 

“Why isn't he… It doing anything?” Barry said as he poked on the motionless man, one of Danton Black’s copies.

 

“We did a brain scan. Involuntary motor functions are active, little else.” Wells elaborated.

 

“We think it's acting as a receiver.” Cisco cut in.

 

“The clones are an empty shell without Black. Shut down the real Black, and you might shut them all down.” Caitlin further explained.

 

“But how do we know which one is the real Danton Black?” Barry voiced out the most important question.

 

“That occurred to me given your own passing out.” Caitlin said, smiling. “Black has limits, just like you. Controlling all of those clones must require a tremendous amount of physical strength. So, look for the one showing signs of weakness or fatigue. He's the prime.”

 

“Just a theory, but one you might want to put to the test, Mr. Allen.” Wells piped up.

 

“Plus, I whipped up these high-calorie protein bars for you to keep your metabolism up.”

 

Suddenly, the replicate started to move, scare the hell out of Caitlin and Joe stepped in, shot down the replicate as he did so.

 

“Any more of them?” Joe asked.

 

“Nope.” Caitlin panted, still scared.

 

“Why did it start moving?” Barry demanded.

 

“The prime… My guess is: the prime is on the move. This one heard the summons to battle.” Wells deduced.

 

“And I know where he was summoned to: Stagg Industries.” Joe finished.

 

“You should call it in.” Barry said but Joe didn’t move.

 

“Police can't fight this.” He said simply and everyone looked at the detective. “What Black's become, like Mardon, is beyond me, maybe way beyond them, too.”

 

“The only person it's not beyond…” The detective said in a serious tone. “Is you. You gotta do this.”

 

Barry didn’t move, still looking sceptical and uncertain.

 

“I get it. So for once in your life, do what I tell you to do.” Joe said, like a father asking his son to be strong. “Go stop him.”

 

Finally, Barry moved. The Red Streak was once more on a mission. When he got to the scene, he took Simon out just in time when Danton was going to shoot him. He took him back to the office, told the old man to stay there and left in a blur. The battle between two metahumans was on again in dodging bullets, playing a deadly version of hide-and-seek and negotiations.

 

“I know Stagg stole your research, but that doesn't give you the right to murder.” Barry panted.

 

“You think this is about my job.” Black grunted as he was shoved against a pillar. “This is about Elizabeth, my wife. She had a degenerative coronary disease.”

 

“She'd been on the transplant list for years, but time was running out. So if I couldn't get her a new heart, you were gonna grow her one.” He panted, shoving Barry off him. “I was so close, until Stagg stole my research.”

 

“So he could reap the glory and I got to bury my best friend. Now I'm alone.” Black snapped and numerous copies of him came out from the original one. Once again, Barry found himself caught in a fierce fight among the copies.

 

_“Remember, Barry. Find the prime.”_ Caitlin called in the headset.

 

“There's too many of them to fight.” Barry shouted into the headset when he escaped.

_“Barry, you need to isolate the prime.”_ Wells ordered.

 

“I can't. It's impossible!”

 

_“Nothing's impossible, Barry. You taught me that.”_ Joe’s voice rang, giving him the encouragement he needed. _“You can do this.”_

 

Getting back to the fighting scene, Barry observed the numerous copies of Danton Black carefully and well hidden, using his powerful observing kills in forensic science. Finally, he noticed one of them had a sweat drop falling down his face. That’s him! Barry launched himself at him and slammed him against a metal bar, knocking him out and immediately, all the copies fell down like puppets had their strings cut off.

 

_“Barry. Barry, are you all right?”_ Joe asked in worry.

 

“I'm fine… I'm fine… It's done.” He whispered and everyone in S.T.A.R. Labs smiled in relief.

* * *

 

“Happy ending?” Anders asked but Barry shook his head.

 

“No, he jumped off the building. Tried to save him, but you know the result…” He whispered sadly.

 

“Don’t be too hard on yourself.” Hunter whispered. “You have done everything you can. It was his choice, don’t blame yourself.”

 

“I know.” Barry whispered back, a sad smile hanging on his face.

* * *

 

“Tried to save him.” Barry and his team were watching the News reporting the death of Danton Black.

 

“Doesn't sound like he wanted to be saved.” Wells said quietly. “Some people, when they break… They can't be put together again.”

 

“Some people heal even stronger.” Barry added.

 

“I hope so.” Wells could only say this.

 

“Well, at least Multiplex won't be able to hurt anyone else.” Cisco piped up. Caitlin and Barry looked at him again. “Told you I'd come up with a cool name.”

 

They smiled.

 

“Yeah, I may be the one in the suit doing all the running.” Barry said. “But when I'm out there helping people, making a difference, you're all out there with me.”

 

“Finally realized something, we were all struck by that lightning.” He finished with a smile before he left. Finally, everything was normal again. Normal, like he still had to work overtime, but he was not alone.

 

“Hungry?” Joe came in with three boxes of mega-sized pizza. “Pepperoni, olives and jalapeño, just like you like it.”

 

“Thank you.” Barry smiled.

 

“You were wrong.” Joe suddenly said and Barry looked at him in confusion.

 

“I have been wrong a lot this week.” He started. “You're gonna have to be more specific.”

 

“You said that one of things driving you to run around out there was that you couldn't help your dad.” Joe pointed out. “You can help him. We can.”

 

Barry looked at Joe with wide eyes.

 

“We're gonna figure out who or what killed your mother that night.” Joe said firmly. “And then we're gonna get your father out of prison. Together.”

 

Barry stared at him for a moment before he remembered he had to do something.

 

“Joe, what I said about you not being my father-” He started but was cut off.

 

“Barry, I know. I know I'm not your father.” Joe admitted, sound a bit hurt.

 

“You're right, you're not. You're just the man who kept me fed and in clothes; who sat beside my bed at night until I fell asleep because I was afraid of the dark; Helped me with my homework; You taught me how to drive and shave and you dropped me off at college.” Barry said quietly.

 

“Sounds a lot like a dad to me.” He finished and Joe didn’t say anything, but he smiled, a genuinely happy smile.

* * *

 

“It’s still a happy ending. You and Joe got closer and so did you and your team.” Hunter said with a smile.

 

“I know.” Barry said with a smile on his face too. “Every kid dreams of being a superhero: Having powers, saving people. But no kid thinks about what it's like when you're a hero and you're not saving people. Truth is, not much else changes.”

 

At Jitters, Iris’s phone beeped and she looked at it, smiling at more sights of Red Streak in the city saving people.

 

“What’s that smile?” Eddie asked as he sat down.

 

“Just something I found on the Internet.” She showed him what she found.

 

“The Red Streak?” Eddie didn’t sound too happy.

 

“Yeah. He’s out saving people again.” Iris said happily before noticing the emotion of her friend.

 

“What? Something troubles you?” She asked.

 

“No. I just hope he’s not some anarchists. That’s all.” He said and Iris frowned, not really happy of what Eddie said but she said nothing.

_“You still hurt. You still love. You still wish and hope and fear things. And you still need people to help you with all of it. In some ways, that's the best part. Actually, the best part? It's this: Running and saving people, knowing that you are using the potential you have.”_

* * *

 

“You ok, Anders?” Barry asked as he noticed Anders was not saying anything.

 

“That’s tragic…” Anders whispered as his eyes slightly watered. “He could be a hero like you… But for some reason, he never reached that path. What a waste.”

 

Hunter gently patted on his back, offering comfort.

 

“At least he is with his wife now, in a better place.” He said.

 

“I know…” Barry said, smiling. Anders was perhaps the definition of contradiction. He might be violent, even to the point ruthless, when he fought evil, but at the same time, he also had this compassion towards them, seeing them as people lost into the abyss of darkness. He detested evil but also showed compassion to some of those who did evil.

 

“If that Simon Stagg hadn’t robbed his work, then the path of history might get very different.” Anders whispered.

 

“Speaking of which, what of that thief Simon Stagg?” Hunter asked, disgust clear in his voice.

 

“He was dead.” Barry said.

 

“What?!” Hunter was shocked now. “How?!”

 

“Oh, I remember this.” Anders said. “It was all on the papers, thief Stagg was found dead in his office the night after Danton Black’s death. The mortal wound was a knife stab in his chest, but no one knew who actually killed him, the cameras, for some reason, recorded nothing.”

* * *

 

In his office of the Stagg Industries, Simon looked deep in thought when he noticed the presence of someone behind him. He turned and saw Dr. Harrison Wells, in his wheelchair.

 

“Wells… Who the hell let you in here?” He demanded.

 

“You’ve been having a party out there?” Dr. Wells asked.

 

“I'm sure you saw on TV. A former employee of mine tried to kill me.” Simon said.

 

“Former employee with the ability to replicate… Faced off against a man who could move at super speed…” Wells whispered.

 

“You've seen him too, haven't you?

 

“Indeed, I have.” Wells replied, his eyes were calculating but Simon was too lost in his fantasy world.

 

“Extraordinary!” Simon said, looking more excited with each word. “The power he possesses, it's like the… it's like the Gods of old. It's like Mercury on earth.”

 

Simon looked even more excited as he paced in his room.

 

“Can you imagine if you could control his power? If you could… if you could harness it? You could change what it means to be human.” Simon was now being hysterical, his eyes shining in greed, hunger for the power, fame and money he could get from Barry.

 

“The man in a red mask is the key, and I'm gonna get him.” Simon said with a crazed determination.

 

Simon finished his speech with a greedy smile, Wells smiled back, but it didn’t reach his eyes.

 

“The man in the red mask… He's called The Flash.” Dr. Wells said as he took off his glasses, his smile vanishing as he continued to speak. “Or at least… He will be one day.”

 

Then, to Simon’s ultimate shock, he stood up, towering over him.

 

“What the hell?” Simon gasped at the sight, Dr. Wells was paralyzed from the waist, it was reported on the news, so why did he… But he never finished his thought because the next second, a blade was impaled in his chest, killing him immediately.

 

“Forgive me, Simon.” Dr. Wells said as he released the knife he held and looked down on the dead body of Simon Stagg lying on the floor, though his voice didn’t sound any remorseful. “I worry you think that you will think this is personal, and it's not.”

 

“It's just that the man in the red mask… The fastest man alive…” Dr. Wells whispered, with a calculating and ferocious look.

 

**_“He must be kept safe…”_ **

* * *

 

Barry was sitting in the table, waiting Anders and Hunter who had excused themselves to a bathroom break. He checked his phone, re-reading the messages that his wonderful boyfriend Eddie Thawne sent him, smiling like an idiot until a voice rang behind him.

 

“Seb? Is that you?”

 

**_Oh no, really?! At this very moment?!_ **

 

“Yes? How may I help you?” Barry sighed, turning to face one of the people he didn’t want to see, _ever_ : Blaine Anderson.

 

**TBC…**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tada. Enjoy yourself. ;) And finally, one of the antagonists in my story made his appearance.
> 
> Reviews are loved.


	3. Things You Can’t Outrun, Eddie Prefers Someone With A Y-Chromosome

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, folks. Here comes another chapter. Also, the New Directions and Warblers are having some screen time too. Enjoy. ;)
> 
> Warning: Some violence will be involved. Like my other stories, Dalton Academy Warblers will be the protagonists (As they're my favourite.) while there will be a little of bit New Directions bashing in it. And, this story is NOT for Finn-lovers, Blaine-lovers and Mercedes-lovers, Klaine-lovers should avoid this too. Kurt-lovers… you should probably not read this either.
> 
> Slash, though nothing graphical. Don't like, don't read. Flames are strictly prohibited.
> 
> Disclaimer: Everything is AU, some characters might be OOC. English is not my mother tongue so please forgive me if there are any grammatical mistakes. I own nothing other than the OCs like Anders, Jeremy, Tyler (If I said the inspiration is NOT from Vampire Diaries, will you guys believe me?) and some amendments on the plot. The rest of the characters belong to their respective owner. Characters like Chris and most of the Warblers belong to Eraman.

Barry was sitting in the table, waiting Anders and Hunter who had excused themselves to a bathroom break. He checked his phone, re-reading the messages that his wonderful boyfriend Eddie Thawne sent him, smiling like an idiot until a voice rang behind him.

 

“Seb? Is that you?”

 

**_Oh no, really?! At this very moment?!_ **

 

“Yes? How may I help you?” Barry sighed, turning to face one of the people he didn’t want to see, _ever_ : Blaine Anderson.

 

“Oh my gosh! I can’t believe I can see you here!” Blaine said in an over-cheery voice. “So what are you doing here? I am free for the rest of the day! Why don’t we-”

 

“Anderson!” Barry put up his hand to cut the dwarf off. “First of all, I can’t believe I will see you here too. As for what I’m doing here is none of your business. And I don’t care if you are free for the rest of your life, I-”

 

“Ah… So you’re playing hard to get now?” Blaine said with a flirty smile, leaning into Barry’s personal space. “After all the flirting you gave me…”

 

“I didn’t flirt with you!” Barry said impatiently. “I don’t know when or why you had that thought but I have told you many times I didn’t feel that way to you!”

 

“Oh come on! Don’t be proud.” Blaine leaned further in.

 

“Sir, personal space.” Barry moved away but Blaine just didn’t know how to quit.

 

“You know you want this. It’s what you are.” Blaine whispered.

 

“Excuse me?! Who do you think I am?! Some random guy for your sexual relieve?!” Barry snapped, standing up and gaining the attention of some customers in the coffee shop. And behind him, someone spoke up which made Barry relaxed a little bit.

 

“What’s happening here?” Hunter demanded as he came up next to Barry, him on one side, Anders on the other side, like two bodyguards.

 

“Well, we’re having a really nice chat and were planning a date for tonight until you two started cockblocking us.” Blaine sneered, his smile and over-cheery tone disappeared.

 

“It’s not cockblocking if he didn’t feel to you that way.” Anders piped up, crossing his arms. “Besides, why would **_you_** out of all people go on a date? You have been taken, if my memory serves me right.”

 

“Oh you mean Kurt? We got into a fight and we broke up. But anyway Sebby, don’t mind these two idiots. Let’s-”

 

“Blaine Anderson, these two idiots are. My. **_Friends_**.” Barry snapped. “While I suggest you watch your stinky mouth, I will tell you one last time: you…”

 

He pointed at the dwarf.

 

“Are not my type. And I have a boyfriend and I’m happy to be with him.”

 

“A boyfriend that only lived in your imagination. Why deceive yourself with this hallucination when you have someone like me?” Blaine teased, leaning in again but Barry moved out of his way.

 

“First thing first, my boyfriend is not imaginary, and I do not have hallucination. The one who have hallucination is **you**. Now back off!” Barry said and started walk to the door but Blaine grabbed onto his arm and tried to get a kiss but Anders pinched hard onto Blaine’s elbow. Blaine cried in pain and the trio took the chance to leave the coffee shop. They didn’t say anything until they reached a park nearby.

 

“I’m sorry, I should have known this.” Anders apologized. “I should have stayed with you until Hunter came back so I-”

 

“Stop that.” Barry said quietly as he sat down on a bench, his hands on his face. “It’s no one’s fault. If something’s going to happen, it will happen anyway.”

 

“Maybe we should get back to Dalton.” Hunter said but Barry dismissed the idea.

 

“No, we’re going on as we planned, window-shopping in a mall and then have dinner at BreadstiX.”

 

“But the NDs may-”

 

“Then so be it.” Barry said as he walked towards their car, Hunter and Anders following him.

 

“I have just remembered something.” Barry said quietly. “It doesn’t matter who you are, every one of us is running, whether we are running from or to someone or something. It’s the meaning of being alive. And no matter how fast you are, there’s always something or someone you can’t outrun. There’s something, they will manage to catch up to you anyway… Like the Mist.”

 

“The Mist? Is it another metahuman you fought?” Anders asked as they started to drive to the Lima Plaza and Barry was lost to his memories again.

* * *

 

“Regular movie scale, that was a seven or an eight.” Barry said as he and Iris walked out of the cinema, Iris was still having a cup of popcorn in her arms. “Zombie movie scale, it was like… a four, tops.”

 

“There's a zombie movie scale?” Iris asked curiously and immediately Barry started babbling in excitement.

 

“Did you know that zombies exist in nature? There's a species of fungi that infects ants, causing the ants to attack plants that can release spores which in turn infect new hosts.”

 

He paused for a moment when he noticed what he was saying.

 

“I'm going full nerd again, aren't I?” He sheepishly asked.

 

“Yep.” Iris nodded her head.

 

“Yeah.” Barry replied, blushing a bit.

 

“It's okay though. You are still the cutest nerd that I know.” Iris said, throwing a piece of popcorn into her mouth.

 

“Anyways, I'm a lot more interested in the amazing as of late.” She said and Barry frowned. Keeping his secret identity from Iris was getting more difficult, especially when she got very intrigued by it.

 

“You mean _‘The Streak’_ thing?” Barry asked, frowning.

 

“He's out there. People are talking about him.”

 

“How do you even know he's a he? Maybe it's a she.”

 

“It's a man, okay? You know I am really intuitive about this kind of stuff. Someone even posted a picture after being yanked from a car accident. It's a red blur leaving the scene.” Iris took out her phone and showed it to Barry.

 

“Here, what do you see?” She asked, expecting the said photo was on, but instead, all Barry could see was a handsome blonde, Eddie Thawne, on the screen, calling.

 

“I see Eddie's calling.” Barry said flatly and Iris started at her phone, looking a bit embarrassed.

 

“Oh, I should probably get this.” She whispered. “My room’s ceiling was dripping water and he offered me to crash at his place tonight, and he's supposed to leave a key for me somewhere.”

 

“Hey, Ed. What’s up?” She turned to answer the phone. Barry just shook his head before his phone rang too.

 

“Hello?” Barry sighed dramatically.

 

_“Code 237 on Waid Boulevard.”_ Cisco said in the phone.

 

“Public indecency?” He asked.

 

_“Wait, I think I meant a 239.”_ Cisco wasn’t answering his question.

 

“Dog leash violation?” Barry asked again and he could hear Caitlin sighed on the other end.

 

_“Bad man with a gun in a getaway car. Go!”_ Caitlin snapped and Barry jolted into action.

* * *

 

“All hail Caitlin Snow!” Hunter threw his arms into the air. Barry and Anders laughed.

 

“The Queen of Giving Straight Forward Answers.” Anders mocked and the group laughed.

 

“But dude, why would Cisco keep on beating around the bush?” Hunter asked.

 

“As I said, human mind is-”

 

“I get it!” Hunter squeaked. “Alright dude, I’m sure that you take down those thugs easily, right?”

 

“Yeah. And I got back to Iris before she finished the call.” Barry chuckled.

* * *

 

“Key's in the mailbox. I'll see you later, bye.” Iris finished the call as Barry got back just in time, pretending nothing happened.

 

“Eddie says hi.” She said as she turned around.

 

“Nice of him.” Barry said with a higher pitch and handed a cup of popcorn to her. “You wanna grab a bite? I'm feeling a little famished.”

 

“After the Mongolian barbecue we had before the movie and the extra-large popcorn you had at the movie?” Iris looked sceptical. “How are you not fat?”

 

“I've been jogging.” Barry managed.

 

“Oh, okay.” Iris laughed and the two continued their walk. They walked past a restaurant. Little they knew that the next day, it would turn into the scene for the first victims of another metahuman attack.

 

The next day, Barry got to his workplace when he overheard the cops talking about how the perp ended up in their back seat last night during their chase. Smiling faintly, he quickly walked past them.

 

“Wasn't even him last night. It was me.” He whispered to Joe who chuckled.

 

“I figured.” Joe said. “I just didn't realize you were helping people for the glory.”

 

“It's not like I want a museum built in my name. Keeping what I can do a secret from Iris and everyone, it's harder than I thought.” Barry confessed and Joe hummed in agreement.

 

“I know, but it is safer that way. Besides, me and you got work to do.” Joe said and showed Barry a box full of paper works when they were back at his lab.

 

“The evidence from my mom's case.” Barry said in astonishment.

 

“I had it brought up from storage.”

 

“I've been through this box a thousand times.” Barry said and had a hidden question in it: _“Why bring it out now?”_

 

“Before, your story about what really happened that night, the lightning storm, the man in the middle of it, I thought that was a kid trying to protect his father from prison.” Joe replied. “But now that I know it's true, we're gonna go through every scrap of evidence until we find something that helps us.”

 

“It took the jury 52 minutes to come back with a verdict of guilty.” Barry added.

 

“They moved too fast, which is why we got to take our time.” Joe said but before they could start, Eddie came in.

 

“We got multiple homicides. Do you know the Darbinyan crime family?” Eddie said.

* * *

 

At the crime scene, everyone was doing their job, taking pictures for record, collecting evidence, in Barry’s case.

 

“Signs of histotoxic hypoxia. The cells in their bodies were unable to utilize oxygen. It's consistent with exposure to poison gas.” Barry reported to Joe.

 

“What kind of poison?” Joe asked.

 

“I'll need to take a lung sample, see if I can narrow it down.”

 

“The only other exit was bolted from the inside. They were trapped.” Eddie said as he checked the place thoroughly. “I was thinking someone pumped gas in from the outside, but witnesses say the street was empty.”

 

“So it was from the inside.” Joe deduced. “That means there should be a canister or a container left behind. The gas just didn't come in by itself.”

 

But then, something dawned on Barry.

 

“Unless it had a mind of its own.” He said and both Joe and Eddie looked at him. While Eddie looked confused, Joe did catch what Barry meant.

 

“Eddie, would you mind canvassing again? Somebody had to have seen something suspicious.” Joe sent the blonde away with a believable excuse. When they were sure no one was near, Joe turned to Barry.

 

“Okay, explain.”

 

“The boss collapsed by the table; This guy made it 10 feet away; That guy had a chance to move off and fire three shots into the window trying to break the glass.” Barry pointed out. “But they all started in the same spot, which means they should have all been affected by the gas at the same time, but instead, it's as if-”

 

“They were attacked one by one.” Joe finished for him.

 

“My gut feeling, if we're gonna solve this one, you and me are gonna need… Backup.” Joe said and Barry nodded in agreement.

* * *

 

“Oh dear, imagining that scenario made my hair stood on the end.” Anders shuddered.

 

“Why?” Barry asked.

 

“Simple, imagine a guy summoning a poison gas, he could wipe out everything if he wanted! All he needed to do is a simple move!” The Asian replied.

 

“Well, but my team didn’t share your view, instead, they acted the opposite way.” Barry said and Anders flailed his arms in the air.

 

“They are **_nuts_**!” He groaned.

* * *

 

“Fascinating.” Dr. Wells said as he looked at the screen. “A meta-human that can manipulate poison gas.”

 

“Is it just poisonous gas, or can he control all aerated substances?” Cisco questioned.

 

“And how is he able to formulate the connection? Is it physiological or psychological?” Caitlin added.

 

“This individual can create a mental nexus using gaseous substances.” Wells deduced.

 

“You mean connect with gases on a molecular level?” Cisco asked with a smile on his face.

 

“Yes.” Wells replied.

 

“That is ridiculously cool.” Cisco thrilled.

 

“They get really excited about this stuff.” Barry timidly told Joe who simply shook his head.

 

“The only thing I'm excited about is putting criminals behind bars, except Iron Heights isn't exactly equipped to handle meta-humans.” Joe began.

 

“Then I guess it's fortunate the ones you've encountered so far are no longer with us.” Wells said without moving his sights away from the screen. Joe, on the other hand, didn’t seem to like the idea.

 

“Well, unless we're planning on executing every super criminal we stop, you geniuses are gonna have to come up with someplace else to hold them.” Joe told the team.

 

“A meta-human prison… Sweet.” Cisco whispered.

 

“Until we figure a way to remove their powers.” Wells said, still focusing on the screen.

 

“There is one place here that might hold them.” Cisco suggested and Caitlin turned to look at him with an unbelieving expression.

 

“You can't be serious.” She snapped but then she thought her tone was a bit too harsh and Barry was looking at her with a questioning look.

 

“I mean, we haven't been down there since it's cordoned off.” She added.

 

“Cisco is right. It could be modified to act as a makeshift prison.” Wells said.

 

“What could?” Barry asked and finally, Wells looked up from the screen.

 

“The particle accelerator.” He said simply and the room got quiet, Caitlin just looked away as the memory started crashing back like an unstoppable flood: The initiation of the particle accelerator; everybody was cheering; Dr. Wells opened a bottle of champagne; she and her fiancé Ronnie Raymond discussing and agreeing on their honeymoon destination, everyone was happy, full of joy… until everything went wrong: gravity disappeared, the liquids floated out of their apparatus momently. Then, the alarm started blaring; the lights went off; the building started shaking and the ominous bang of distant explosion. She was so lost to her thoughts that she didn’t even notice Wells was calling on her, asking if she would go down to the ruins of accelerator with them.

 

“Actually Dr. Wells, I could use Caitlin's help identifying the poison gas.” Barry stepped in and Caitlin looked so relieved she almost wanted to cry.

 

“If that's okay with you?” He asked.

 

“Let's go.” She whispered and the group separated.

* * *

 

“Welcome to the CCPD.” Barry introduced Caitlin as they walked into the office.

 

“So this is your day job.” Caitlin said with a small smile and uttered a word “Delightful.” as an obviously high gangster was getting pushed out of the office.

 

“Lab rat, I need prints off this gun pronto.” A female officer shoved a piece of evidence into Barry’s arms.

 

“Allen! Where the hell is the fibre analysis on the Orloff case?” Singh snapped as he walked into the office.

 

“Upstairs. It's all finished. I can just run up and bring it down.” Barry said as he started to sweat.

 

“With you, that could be three days from now. I'll go with you.” Singh said as he followed Barry, Caitlin, on the other hand, looked like she was trying hard not to laugh.

 

“Who are you?” Singh asked.

 

“Dr. Caitlin Snow, Barry's personal physician.” She introduced herself politely.

 

“The fibre analysis for the Orloff case, like you asked for, sir.” Barry handed his employer the report he needed, but Caitlin noticed that he only finished that in seconds.

 

“Clean up your lab. It's a mess.” Singh said before he turned.

 

“Did he always pick on you?” Caitlin asked as she walked in, closing the door so Barry could start tidying up.

 

“Not if I always have flaws for him to notice.” Barry said.

 

Meanwhile, Joe was reviewing the tapes of Henry Allen’s statements, searching for any signs of new evidence. When the tape was finished, he put in another one and then he noticed something on a nearby book shelf. He took it out and immediately, he felt his blood pressure started shooting up in a straight line…

 

In his hand, was a photo, normally it wouldn’t cause him this reaction, but when you saw the two people in the photo were actually your daughter and your working partner, kissing, yes, **kissing ON. THE. LIPS** , well, you couldn’t really blame Joe for having such reaction. What’s worse, Iris came down stairs just at this moment.

 

“Hey, dad… Uh… What’s happening? You look like you’re going to pop a coronary…” Iris said as Joe slowly turned to look at her and an imaginary black cloud was starting to gather around the older man.

 

“Iris…” He began. “Is there something you would like to tell me?”

 

Iris looked both confused and slightly nervous.

 

_“Wait… He didn’t find out the slash stories I’ve been secretly collecting, did he?”_ She thought.

 

“I’m sorry, but I don’t really understand…”

 

“This!” He snapped, shoving the photo on Iris’s face. When Iris realised what her dad was talking about, a shade of red started appearing on her cheeks.

 

“Uh… Dad, I can explain.” Iris said in embarrassment.

 

“You better or I’ll-” Joe was cut off by the banging at the door and both turned.

 

“We’re not done talking about this.” Joe said as Iris went to get the door. She opened it and revealed… the other main character in the photo, Eddie.

 

“Oh god…” Iris groaned. “This is one disaster on top of another…”

 

“ **YOU!** ” Joe started storming towards them.

 

“Wha… What?! Joe? I thought you were at the morgue…” Eddie stuttered in surprise and fear as the imaginary black cloud around Joe intensified dramatically as he marched towards them. Luckily, Iris decided to jump in between the two.

 

“Dad! Calm down! Don’t be over-reactive!” Iris started babbling. “I will explain everything to you, but I assure you we’re not doing anything funny. Eddie is here because I invited him, I want to thank him for letting me stay at his place when my room’s ceiling was dripping water. That’s all. I’m going to thank him with a cup of coffee. See you soon.”

 

With that, Iris dragged a stunned Eddie out of the door and fled along the street. They ran until they reached a small park.

 

“Ok… Why… Why did your dad want to rip my head off with his hands?” Eddie asked, panting.

 

“Oh… Ripping your head off with his hands is a mercy, he wanted to shred you to threads with his bare hands when you’re still wild awake.” Iris replied, panting as well.

 

“Why would he want to do that?”

 

“He found it… The photo… of us… kissing…” Iris said and Eddie’s eyes widened and his face paled.

 

“Oh god…” He groaned as he slumped down on a bench. “Why didn’t you explain-”

 

“-That it was just a photo Mary took when we played _‘Spin-the-bottle’_ during that time I took you to her party?” Iris snapped. “I was just going to do that but then **_you_** showed up! What a perfect timing you have, mister!”

 

“Oh no… Kill me now…” Eddie groaned, hiding his face in his arms. How could he face Joe again when the two met in their workplace?!

 

“This has got to stop. I came here, wanting to invite you and Barry to hit the café, now my work partner is going to shoot me whenever I look at you in the wrong way! This is so not what I was planning on.” Eddie groaned, lifting his head above his hands.

 

“I know, trust me, I know.” Iris said, patting on her friend’s shoulder.

 

“We have to tell him the truth.” Eddie said and Iris looked at him as if he had gone crazy.

 

“At this moment? Are you serious?!” Iris snapped.

 

“No! I mean when he calmed down a bit, then we can tell him that I’m not attracted to you, or to any woman at all! I prefer someone with a Y-chromosome!” Eddie cried.

 

Iris just shook her head.

 

“You will only piss him off more! Either he thinks you are lying by pretending to be gay, or if he believes it, you were toying with my feelings or he assumes that you were using me to take advantages. For any cases above, you will only experience a more painful death by my dad!”

 

Eddie groaned before he got a text from Singh, stating that he was needed.

* * *

 

Turns out, not only Caitlin had flashbacks of the explosion, Cisco did too when he and Dr. Wells went down to the accelerator. When the machine started to malfunction, Dr. Wells told the engineering team to shut it down but Cisco pointed out that they had do it manually. Being the lead engineer, Ronnie got down to the system together with Cisco but the latter was told to stay back and locked the door if he didn’t come back within 2 minutes. Cisco still remembered how he looked at his watch as the time finally ran out, but his friends still hadn’t come back and how he was forced to close and lock the door; forcing to sentence his friend to death. It still haunted him, even it was nine months ago.

 

“Can I ask you something that you don't have to answer?” Barry asked as he and Caitlin were waiting the analysis to complete.

 

“My least favourite kind of question, shoot.” She replied, having a feeling what was on his mind.

 

“Ronnie… What was he like? You just never talk about him that much.” Barry asked, preparing for a backlash but Caitlin didn’t seem to get offended.

 

“We met when we were working on the particle accelerator. He was the structural engineer.” She began. “He liked to joke that he was basically a very high-priced plumber. We were very different. You might have noticed I can be a bit… guarded.”

 

“But Ronnie knew how to make me laugh.” Caitlin said with a small sad smile on her face. “He used to say we were like fire and ice. He wasn't supposed to be there that night. He was just there for me. If he hadn't-”

 

She was cut off when the computer beeped and the report printed out.

 

“This says that there was no residue of gas in the tissue, poisonous or otherwise.” Caitlin said.

 

“It must have evaporated. We'll need to get a fresh sample.” Barry said but Caitlin noticed something.

 

“Wait, this can't be right. This says that there are two distinct strands of DNA inside the tissue.”

 

“How did someone else's DNA get inside the victim's lungs?” Barry asked and Caitlin looked at him with a frown.

 

“There's no DNA match in the database.” Barry said after he checked the DNA database.

 

“I don't understand. Why would a chemical attack leave behind another person's DNA inside the victim?

 

“What if the meta-human we're looking for doesn't control gas? What if he becomes it?” Barry asked and both knew they had got the answer.

 

_“All available units, we have a report of a toxic gas attack in the Central City shopping mall.”_ Almost instantly, the radio in Barry’s lab turned on and Barry got to his feet, Caitlin following him behind.

“Barry, don't! We don't know enough about what we're facing yet. It's not safe!” She tried to object but like Wells said, when Barry had his mind set on something, no one could talk him out of it.

 

“Caitlin, I have to go.” Barry said before he flashed away. Caitlin, on the other hand, thought maybe it was time to prepare patching Barry up soon.

* * *

 

“She’s right on the part where she was guarded.” Hunter pointed out as they finished the walk at Lima Plaza and were now on the way to BreadstiX.

 

“As an engineer, being guarded and cautious are advantages since they could make sure the flaws were removed before the subject was published.” Anders reasoned.

 

“But as a crime-fighter, they might be hindrance.” Barry said and Anders looked at him sharply.

 

“It’s better safe than sorry. You didn’t know who you’re dealing with and what he was capable to do. Rushing in with such little preparations can cause more harm than good.” Anders countered.

* * *

 

_“Barry, I patched into the mall's security system. According to witnesses, the gas attack was in the main elevator in the north wing.”_ Cisco informed as Barry rushed to the shopping mall.

 

“Which one is the north wing?” Barry asked.

 

_“The one with The Big Belly Burger.”_ Wells piped up.

 

_“I eat.”_ He added, probably after receiving a look from Cisco. Barry shook his head and got to the scene. The victim of the attack this time, was a woman. Obviously, she was beyond help. Looking up, he noticed a trail of gas disappearing into the back corridor. Without thinking and in frustration of failing to save another person, he chased behind him. The gas collected itself and materialized into a bald man with a look similar to Voldemort.

 

“Why did you kill that woman?” He demanded.

 

“She deserved to die.” The metahuman said with obvious craziness. “Now go run away, I still have one more name on my list. Don't make me add you to it.”

 

Sneering, Barry lunged but all the punches he threw at him were like hitting air itself. The man simply melted into gas before materializing again. And before he knew what happened, the gas crept into his system and he collapsed onto the floor, grasping his throat and gasping.

 

_“Barry.”_ He heard Dr. Wells called and realized that his team might be his last hope. _“Barry, can you hear me?”_

_“His vitals are weak, but he's alive, Dr. Wells.”_ He heard Cisco assured him.

 

“I'm sure he's fine.”

 

And then, he crashed into them, still gasping coarsely.

 

“I… can’t… breathe…” He gasped and the two men jumped into action.

 

“He needs oxygen. Get the crash cart!” Wells ordered and Cisco hurried away.

 

“Barry! Barry!” They heard Caitlin called as they tried to steady him.

 

“Cut me open. The poison's still in me.” Barry rasped.

 

“He brought us a sample.” Wells said.

 

“Caitlin, we need to do a pulmonary biopsy, extract an active portion of that gas.” He ordered and Caitlin nodded.

 

“I can't give you any anaesthetic. Your metabolism will burn right through it.” She warned and Barry nodded.

 

“I heal quick, remember?”

 

“Cisco, give me the syringe.” She ordered and turned back to the gasping human. “This is gonna hurt a lot.”

 

“It's a small needle. You probably won't even feel it.” Cisco piped up with a syringe and a… man, that needle was long…

 

“You're definitely going to feel it.” Caitlin snapped, taking the syringe and before anyone could say a thing, Barry cried out in pain as the needle punched through his skin and flesh and then, everything turned black.

* * *

 

“See? I told you.” Anders said.

 

“I didn’t think much, I was getting frustrated and it happened.” Barry defended himself as they pulled up at the carpark.

 

“But still, I think Anders is right, you need to get more cautious.” Hunter said.

 

_“Please! Can someone help?!”_

 

The group turned and saw a young girl hanging on a branch of a tall tree, her parents calling down below, looking extremely worried.

 

“Wow… I wonder how she ended up there…” Hunter said before turning to his friends. “Aren’t you going to do something?”

 

“Why don’t you go do something?” Anders asked.

 

“Huh? Why me?”

 

“You’re the only who can **_fly_**.” Anders pointed out. “Now, be a good superhero and help that little girl.”

 

Looking a bit embarrassed, Hunter went hiding in a dark corner and changed into his Green Lantern uniform. Flying into the air, he approached the crying little girl. He managed to catch her when she slipped. The terrified soul clung onto his uniform with her dear life. Murmuring comforting words, Hunter descended onto the ground and let the little child go. Immediately, she rushed to her parents who hugged her tightly. The family now turned to look at him.

 

“Thank you, I don’t know how I can repay you this debt.” The mother said sincerely.

 

“It’s nothing. No need for the repaying. You guys being safe are enough.” Hunter said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck.

 

“Are you an angel?” The girl in her mother’s arms asked innocently.

 

“Lilian!” The mother scolded but Hunter just laughed.

 

“It’s ok, miss.” He said as he knelt in front of the little girl. “Why would you think I’m an angel?”

 

“You can fly! You save me! Angels can fly and save people so you have to be an angel.” The little girl, Lilian said innocently.

 

“You have good imagination.” He rubbed the little girl’s hair with fondness and tenderness. “It’s good. Imagination brings dreams to come true.”

 

The little girl giggled and her parents smiled lovingly at their daughter before they thanked Hunter again.

 

“You are a hero, young man. Remember this and we and the city need you.” The father said sincerely. Hunter smiled before flying off. Changing back to his civilian clothes, he went to meet his friends.

 

“Happy?” Hunter asked.

 

“Very.” Barry and Anders smiled as the trio started walking to the restaurant.

* * *

 

When Barry finally came back to the living world, his team was gathering around him.

 

“The Streak lives…” Cisco joked.

 

“You'd be dead if your lung cells didn't regenerate so quickly.” Caitlin said.

 

“My chest feels like that one time I had a cigarette.” Barry said and Caitlin glared at him with a disapproving look.

 

“Yeah, teen me lived for danger.” Barry admitted timidly.

 

“This isn't funny. You could've-”

 

“I didn't.” Barry cut Caitlin off and she sighed in exasperation.

 

“Now that we have a sample, we'll get to work analysing it, figure out the makeup of the poison, maybe get a clue as to his human identity.” Wells said, focusing on his computer screen.

 

“Or at least a way to stop him from turning into a mist.” Cisco added and it dawned on him.

 

“The Mist. Okay, that's his name. End of discussion.”

 

“I have to get to the station.” Barry said, getting off the bed, still looking a bit wobbling on his feet.

 

“You should be resting.” Wells said without looking up.

 

“I have to talk to Joe.” Barry said weakly.

 

Later that night, Barry found Joe in his lab.

 

“I had him, the meta-human.” He reported. “We were wrong. He's not controlling airborne toxins, he can literally transform himself into poison gas.”

 

“That's new.” Joe said as he too had something to report. “The victim was a judge. We're going through some of her old cases to see if there's a connection.”

 

“It's too late.” Barry whispered and Joe looked at him. “I should have been faster.”

 

“Focus on the job. Don't think about that right now.” Joe put down the file he was holding and said.

 

“You don't want to know what I'm thinking about.” The younger man sighed. “My dad has spent 14 years in a 6x8-foot cell for a crime he didn't commit. I couldn't save my mom, but I can save him.”

 

“Didn't I promise you that we would get your father out of prison together?” Joe asked.

 

“I don't need your help, Joe.” Barry said in a low voice. “I could be in and out of there with him before anyone even sees me.”

 

“Okay.” Joe sat down patiently. He was not surprised that Barry had that thought. Who didn’t have desperate thoughts during desperate times? And he was glad that Barry decided to talk to him instead of doing something that he might regret.

 

“You break him out of there. Then what?” He asked. “He's on the run for the rest of his life. And something tells me he's not as fast as you are.”

 

“You don't know what it's like there.”

 

“You think I don't understand what you're feeling? I have been a cop for almost as long as you've been alive.” Joe said. “So you should know: putting on that suit does not make everybody safe. For every person you save, there's gonna be somebody you can't.”

 

“And the hardest thing you're gonna have to face is not some monster out there with powers.” Joe said firmly. “It **_is_** gonna be that feeling of uselessness when you can't do anything. Or the guilt that weighs on you when you make a mistake.”

 

“Some things, Barry, you can't fight. Some things you just have to live with.” The detective said before leaving, leaving Barry deep in thought.

* * *

 

“You know, I’m so glad that you didn’t do that.” Anders said as they reached BreadstiX.

 

“Yeah, me too.” Barry said with a smile.

 

“And Joe was right on one thing: You’re too hard on yourself.” Hunter piped up. “No one is perfect, and not everything has a happy ending. What really important, is that you have tried your best. You learnt from your failures, but don’t let the failures rule over you.”

 

“Thanks.” Barry said.

 

“They’re all here.” Anders said, looking through the window, and they saw all the New Directions and Warblers were here too.

 

“I know, and I’ll take it like nothing.” Barry said. “We have done nothing wrong. They started the fight, remember, not us.”

 

“I know.” Anders said before whispering something in Cantonese. “先撩者賤. **_(Meaning: The one who initiated the fight or argument is the lowest.)_** ”

 

The three got into the restaurant and immediately, they could feel the glares from the NDs and the looks some Warblers concentrating on them. Anders also noticed someone was staring at him but he didn’t pay much attention. His focus was on Barry, if those morons were stupid enough to start a fight, he was not going to let them get away easily. As for Barry, he ignored them as usual and the group picked a more remote table and ordered their food and drinks. They overheard some conversations from nearby tables.

 

_“Do you hear that? The Green Lantern is out again.”_ A girl told her boyfriend in excitement.

 

_“Really?”_ Her boyfriend replied.

_“I saw him saved a little girl from falling off a tree.”_ A woman told her friends.

_“How do you know it’s a he?”_ Another woman asked.

_“He spoke in a male voice, silly.”_ Her friend replied.

 

_“Why would Green Lantern be here? Shouldn’t he be in a place called, Shore City?”_ A man questioned.

 

Hunter chuckled on that, Hal would be so pissed off if he heard that.

 

_“It’s Coast City, and I think this is a new one. There are several Green Lanterns in Coast City, remember? Maybe this one decided to settle here.”_

_“That_ _’ll be so cool, not to mention his partner, Musician-”_

 

Anders growled, Barry faked a cough and Hunter covered his mouth, trying hard not to laugh.

 

_“Is awesome too. Having a superhero in our city makes us feel safe, now we have two.”_

 

“I think I need to clarify my alias the next time we’re on mission. It’s _“Euterpan_ _”_ , not _“Musician”_ , damn it.” Anders hissed.

 

“I can see my job of hiding is doing quite well. They didn’t notice me.” Barry whispered.

 

“Are you guys ready to order?” A beautiful waitress approached them.

 

“What’s the special tonight?” Anders asked with a charming smile.

 

“Tonight is grilled lobster. It comes with French toast, mushroom cream soup and ice-cream.” The waitress smiled back.

 

“Cool, I love lobsters. I will have one and ice-cream will be vanilla-flavoured. These two will have a mega-size pepperoni pizza and spaghetti with minced meat and cheese. Two lemon-tea and one chocolate, please?” Anders ordered politely.

 

“Ok. My name is Christine and I’ll be responsible for your orders tonight. Feel free to call me if you need anything.”

 

“Thank you.” The trio thanked.

 

“And what happened next? With you and the crazed metahuman.” Anders asked in a low voice so no one heard them.

 

“That metahuman was not the next thing that bothered me.” Barry said.

* * *

 

“Yes, I'm writing this down.” Eddie spoke to the phone as Iris came in. “Red streak at the mall during the gas attack. Thank you for calling.”

 

“Did they get a good look at the Streak's face?” Iris asked with barely contained excitement.

 

“Not you too…” He groaned. “What are you doing here anyway?”

 

“We need to talk.” Iris said.

 

“I thought about what you said and you’re right. We will tell my dad the truth, together.” Iris said, taking Eddie’s hands with hers.

 

“Now?” Eddie asked, looking a bit nervous.

 

“Yes, now.” Iris said firmly. “Don’t worry. We’ll be fine.”

 

The group moved to Barry’s lab as they knew if Joe was not by his desk, he would be in Barry’s lab. But they couldn’t find Joe at Barry’s lab either.

 

“Hey, Barry. Where’s dad?” Iris asked as Barry was preparing to leave.

 

“Huh? I don’t know. He didn’t tell me where he was going.” Barry said as he left and Eddie couldn’t help himself but to notice how adorable Barry was when he said that “Huh”. He gazed at the leaving figure for a while until Iris elbowed him in the ribs gently. Eddie snapped away from his gaze and started to blush.

 

“Hey, back from La-La Land?” Iris teased. She did notice Eddie’s reaction.

 

“What? Uh…”

 

“See someone you like?” Iris teased again, giggling when Eddie’s face blushed even harder.

 

“You’re delusional!” Eddie denied. Iris didn’t press on the issue, her mind, however, started to work out what really happened between Barry and Eddie and if her hypothesis was correct…

 

_“Wow, that will be hot.”_ Iris giggled in her mind.

 

Barry found Caitlin sitting by the particle accelerator, even her face was away from him, he knew she was sad and worried.

 

“I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you leaving like that.” Barry apologized.

 

“It's okay.” Caitlin assured him. “I get it. You had to go. It's just… that's the last thing that Ronnie said to me that night.”

 

“My mother died 14 years ago.” Barry confessed. “I used to think that the further away I got from it, the less it would hurt.”

 

“But some days, the pain… it's worse than the day that it happened.” He continued. “Some things you can't fight.”

 

“For so long, I've been terrified of going into that hole.” Caitlin said, shaking her head, trying to keep her emotion at bay.

 

“What if I went with you?” Barry suggested and Caitlin nodded. Maybe she could finally face the demon haunting her heart for so long. As they reached the accelerator, she began to tell him what happened that night. How she and Cisco tried to get Ronnie out of the system; Ronnie told them he adjusted the machine so the explosion would go upward instead of horizontally; the last yet unfinished sentence Ronnie tried to tell Caitlin before the sound of explosion took over and took away everything.

 

“So Cisco was there…” Barry said quietly as they approached the door which separated an originally happy couple.

 

“Yeah.” Caitlin whispered.

 

“And he locked the door…”

 

“Yeah, but that guilt was weighing down on him too.” Caitlin added. “Cisco may always look joyful and playful, but I could see the guilt and sadness in his eyes, it was still there. He and Ronnie were good friends and he clearly knew what he did would tear a happily engaged couple apart.”

 

She took a deep breath.

 

“I blamed him initially, but when I calmed down, I realised I couldn’t. Cisco didn’t want to see this happen either, and knowing Ronnie, he would definitely sacrifice himself. I told Cisco that, but it didn’t really help… and I still missed Ronnie.” She said. “He saved so many lives that day, and no one will ever know what he did.”

 

“I do.” Barry said quietly, walking up next to her. “He was a hero.”

 

“I didn't want him to be a hero…” Caitlin whispered. “I wanted him to be my husband. To kiss me awake on every morning… and hold me when I sleep at night…”

 

Barry gently hugged her, letting her silently sob out all the emotions bottling up in her heart for so long.

 

_“Barry, Caitlin, you down there? You got to come look at this.”_ Cisco’s voice rang in the speaker and the two got back to the lab.

 

“Check this out.” Cisco called, standing in front of a screen showing a molecular structure of a chemical compound.

 

“It's a 3D molecular model of the gas we retrieved from your lungs.” He informed.

 

“We have identified the toxin.” Wells piped up. “Hydrogen cyanide. What's interesting is what's mixed in with the cyanide: A sedative.”

 

“Of course.” Barry whispered before turning to Caitlin. “The night of the explosion, find out if anyone was executed.”

 

“Why?” Wells asked.

 

“That sedative is given to criminals on death row before they go to the gas chamber and breathe in hydrogen cyanide.”

 

“There was someone executed: Kyle Nimbus.” Caitlin reported as she brought up the file.

 

“That's him.” Barry recognized the man he once fought with.

 

“He was a hit man for the Darbinyan crime family. They turned on him and testified. Judge Theresa Howard was the judge at his trial. She sentenced him to death.” Caitlin read out the file.

 

“He must have been affected by the explosion while he was being gassed.” Wells concluded.

 

“Records indicate the execution was completed.” Cisco added.

 

“That's why there wasn't a match. The DNA database only has records of the living.” Barry said before he remembered something.

 

“He said there was one more person on his list. Check the arrest record. Who caught him? That could be his next attack.” He said.

 

“Barry, the lead detective…” Caitlin said and Barry’s eyes widened, because the lead detective, the next victim, was his foster father, Joe.

* * *

 

“Oh dear…” Anders whispered, grasping tight on the glass cup without noticing.

 

“That man reminds so much of those insane terrorists who always seek revenges.” Hunter whispered.

 

“Please tell me you made it this time… Tell me that you managed to stop that crazy Voldemort from finishing his killing spree…” Anders whispered. Their dinner had been relatively quiet, nothing happened. The NDs were smart enough not to pick a fight and Blaine didn’t try to hit on Barry again. The group thought it would go on like that until someone called from the table where the NDs and Warblers occupied.

 

“Anders?” The said individual turned to face several familiar faces.

 

“Hi, Mike. Hi, Tina.” Anders greeted casually.

 

“You two know him?” Someone from the NDs, a short Jewish girl asked. What was her name again? Rachel? Yeah, Rachel Berry.

 

“Yeah, we went to the same elementary school and went to Asian Camp with Wes and Chris.” The tall athletic Chinese, Mike Chang said.

 

“I don’t really know that you’re in the Warblers too.” Tina Cohen-Chang, a Korean with Goth style make-up said.

 

“Is he new?” A very tall man from NDs asked. “I don’t think we have ever met him.”

 

“Oh actually, I have been in the Warblers for more than a month.” Anders said coldly.

 

“Then why we have never met you?” The tall man asked again. “Wes only told us that there’s someone named Anders Fung who never has the time to meet us and I initially he is just an imaginary guy. But why are you spending all your time with these-”

 

“Say anything bad and I will punch you in the face, Mr…”

 

“Hudson, Finn Hudson.”

 

“Mr. Hudson. And yes, I am the **_imaginary_** Anders Fung because I have never showed up. What a smart person you are. The reason why I didn’t come to meet you is your meeting time always clashes with my CO practice.” Anders explained in mocked politeness.

 

“What is a CO?” A short blonde man asked, Sam Evans, as Anders remembered.

 

“It’s the short form of Chinese Orchestra.” An Asian Warbler, Chris Montgomery, the younger brother of Wes Montgomery and Mike Chang said.

 

“Oh, you mean those lame, weak, always sorrowful music scores?” Finn said and Anders spun his head.

 

“Excuse me but what do you mean lame, weak, always sorrowful?” Anders snapped, glaring at Finn.

 

“It’s weak. Chinese music is lame and sorrowful, otherwise why would all these beggars pleading for money with those musical instruments? I have seen it on the streets very often.” Finn asked with a sense of arrogance, earning a few nods from his friends.

 

“Yeah, and all jocks are either meatheads or bullies or both while the cheerleaders are all easy whores or spoiled brats or both, because I have seen so many jocks are meatheads and bullies and so many cheerleaders are whores and spoiled brats.” Anders snapped. Many of the NDs looked like they were going to jump up to punch him but Hunter and Barry clearly knew Anders would win easily.

 

“Don’t give me that look. If that jerk face didn’t offend me on the first hand, nothing like this will happen so to cut it short, you bring it upon yourself.” Anders said before turning back to his drink.

 

“Guys, don’t fight.” Blaine said and the trio rolled their eyes. Of course Blaine would be pretending to be the peace-keeper. “But seriously Seb, what are you guys doing here?”

 

“We’re having dinner here, Captain Obvious.” Hunter snapped.

 

“And what happened after dinner?” Blaine was trying to hint something more again. The trio sighed, when would the dwarf understand the meaning of **_“no”_** and **_“I’m taken”_**?

 

“We’re going to **_Scandals_**. But I don’t see why it concerns you.” Barry said in his “Sebastian Smythe” mask.

 

“ ** _Scandals_**?” A Latino Warbler, Jeremy piped up. “That’s the gay bar in West Lima.”

 

“Precisely, Jeremy.” Barry smirked, causing the Latino to blush. Jeremy’s boyfriend, Tyler, just shook his head in fondness as he put his arm around Jeremy’s waist.

 

“That sounds very sweet.” Blaine said in a cheerful voice. “Can I join you guys?”

 

“Anderson, if I remember correctly, you guys are rehearsing the joint-school musical which you guys _‘kindly and politely’_ rejected Sebastian to join.” Hunter pointed out flatly. “Besides, don’t you and your **_boyfriend_** have some daily routines you need to go through before going to bed, right, Kurt?”

 

He eyed at Kurt and Blaine sharply.

 

“Yes.” Kurt said with a forced smile. “We do a rigorous skin sloughing regimen over the phone together.”

 

“But love, our parts are not scheduled tonight. We can spend some time there and have fun.” Blaine pleaded.

 

“Love, they’re having a threesome. Don’t disturb them.” Kurt mocked.

 

“That’s disgusting!” Anders snapped. “I don’t swing that way! Hunter didn’t feel that way to Bas either!”

 

“And then why would you go to a gay bar with them?” Kurt asked with a fake smile.

 

“I agree to be their wingman tonight, Mr. Oblivious.” Anders replied with a fake smile too. Kurt turned to look at Rachel who looked through the papers.

 

“Yeah, your part and Blaine’s part are on tomorrow.” She said.

 

“Well, in that case, we’re in.” Kurt said, looking at Barry with a challenging stare.

 

“What?” Blaine asked.

 

“Yeah, we have a lot of time tonight. We’re in. Let’s do it.” Kurt said with a fake smile.

 

“Great…” Blaine didn’t sound too happy and the trio knew why, because if Kurt was there, then Blaine couldn’t hit on Barry.

 

“Great…” Barry mocked as Blaine whispered something to Kurt.

 

“Don’t worry. He’s harmless.”

 

“So, are we going now?” Kurt asked.

 

“As you wish, mister.” Barry whispered as they went to their respective cars.

 

“That is annoying!” Hunter complained loudly during their drive. “That hobbit just didn’t know when to quit!”

 

“Don’t call him a hobbit or dwarf. It’s an insult to these two names.” Anders said disdainfully. “I’d rather called him a leech.”

 

“Calm down, you two. At least we didn’t make a scene back there.” Barry soothed.

 

“Yeah, why don’t you try to calm us down distracting us with your story? It wasn’t finished yet.”

 

“Well, I tried to call Eddie as Joe’s not answering his phone.” Barry began.

* * *

 

_Come on… Come on… Pick up!_ Barry thought frantically as he paced in the lab.

 

_“Hello?”_

 

“Eddie.” Barry sighed in relief.

 

_“Barry, what's up?”_

 

“Do you know where Joe went? He's not picking up his cell. It's really important I speak to him. I need to know where he went.” He asked.

 

_“I’m not sure if it is right or not, but Captain Singh told me that he went to Iron Heights to see your dad.”_

 

“Thanks” Barry said before cutting off the call.

 

“Barry.” Caitlin handed an injector to him. “I reverse-engineered an antidote to the toxin, I hope you won't need it.”

 

Barry nodded, got on his suit and rushed to Iron Heights within a blink of the eye.

 

“Please… Please… Please don’t let it be too late…” Barry silently prayed as he rushed along the streets. “I have already failed to save my mom, I can’t lose Joe either. I can’t let Iris endure the same pain I experienced. I can’t let him hurt my dad either…”

 

Powered by this determination, he ran even faster.

 

_“Barry, I pulled up the specs on Iron Heights Prison. It's maximum security, but I think I can talk you through breaking in there.”_

 

“Don't bother. I've been figuring out how to break into that place since I was 11.” Barry replied.

 

When he arrived, it seemed he was too late. A guard was dead on the floor, Joe was spamming violently and the culprit was nowhere to be seen. Not wanting to waste more time, he injected the antidote to Joe. Then, he realised that there was someone looking at him too, his dad! Immediately, he vibrated his head quickly so his look was blurred. Turning back to Joe, Barry was relieved to see that the detective was going to be fine.

 

“Go get him…” He said weakly and Barry broke into action. He stopped Nimbus before he could escape.

 

“So you've come to finish what the gas chamber couldn't?” The crazed metahuman said in a crazed manner.

 

“You're going somewhere you can't hurt anyone ever again.” Barry hissed and Nimbus turned itself into a giant hissing green toxic cloud. Barry was ready to fight.

 

_“He used the antidote on Joe. The plan needs some changes.”_ Caitlin told the rest of the team quietly before speaking loudly to the microphone. _“You need to stay away from him, Barry. Do not breathe him in.”_

 

“I'm not sure how that helps me, guys.” Barry replied as he dodged the gas again.

 

_“You can't fight him, Barry. Just keep him coming at you. That should sap his strength.”_ Caitlin reasoned.

 

_“Gas is the least stable form of matter. This meta-human will not be able to stay in his mist form for long. His particles will need to reform.”_ Wells added and Barry dodged the gas again. And this lethal cat-and-the-mouse game carried on for more than 20 minutes before Nimbus finally got his powers exhausted and collapsed on the ground.

 

_“Barry?”_ Caitlin called in the headset.

 

“We win.” Barry said smugly, looking down on the unconscious form of Nimbus. “I’m taking him to your place now. I need to check on Joe.”

 

_“Will do.”_

 

When Barry got back to Iron Heights in his civilian clothes, the guards had the prison surrounded. In distance, the sound of police’s sirens could be heard.

 

“Sir, you can’t go in!” One of the guards blocked him.

 

“My foster dad is in there! I need to see if he’s fine!” Barry faked shouting, of course Joe would be fine, he injected the antidote to him.

 

“Barry?” Someone called his name and he turned, seeing Eddie coming towards him.

 

“Eddie.”

 

“How’s Joe?” The blonde asked.

 

“I don’t know. These guys wouldn’t let me in!” Barry cried just as the paramedics carried Joe out of the prison. Immediately, Barry dashed towards the man.

 

“Sir! I have to go with him!” Barry called as the crash cart reached the ambulance.

 

“Who are you to him?” The paramedic asked.

 

“I’m his foster son.” Barry said and got into the vehicle after gaining the permission of the paramedics. He watched as the medical staff worked on Joe; telling him that he would be fine; transferring him to a ward until Barry fell asleep while waiting.

 

When Barry woke up again, Joe was already awake and watching him with a smile.

 

“It's been a while since I watched you sleep.” Joe said tiredly.

 

“Rescuing you is exhausting.” Barry said and both man chuckled.

 

“I really miss the ability to be able to ground you.” Joe said.

 

“Sorry I went and grew up.” Barry joked before turning serious again.

 

“I could have got my dad out of Iron Heights tonight.”

 

“I know.”

 

“But you were right. That's not the way.” Barry added and Joe looked at him with obvious proudness. The two smiled at each other before Iris came crashing in.

 

“Daddy.” Iris dived in to hug her dad.

 

“Baby, I'm fine. Don't worry.” Joe assured his daughter.

 

“I'll let you guys talk. Say hi to Eddie for me.” Barry whispered as he left.

 

“Dad, I have something that we need to tell you.” Iris said after spending some time asking him questions. “Your partner wants to come too, but-”

 

“Eddie?” Joe said with a slight frown.

 

“Yeah, but he was caught up in the witness protection program so he could only come later.” Iris explained. “But the thing is-”

 

“The thing is you two are dating.” Joe cut Iris off and Iris stared at him agape. No, no, no, this was not the truth!

 

“Dad-” She started but Joe carried on, ignoring her.

 

“I know. I'm a detective, remember?”

 

“But-”

 

“And both of you are lousy liars.”

 

“But-”

 

“But I should remind you, Iris, this is going to be complicated. And you know I don't like complicated.”

 

“I know, but”-

 

“Do you like him?”

 

“Yes, but-”

 

“So if you really like him, then I will do my damnedest not to shoot him.”

 

“But dad-”

 

“That is all I ask. Oh, and tell him, I’m mad. If the doctor hadn’t got my gun confiscated, we’d be having an entirely different conversation.”

 

“Dad!” Iris cried in frustration just as the nurse popped her head inside the ward.

 

“OK, guys. The visiting hour is over, the doctor will check on him soon.” She informed and Iris growled in frustration.

 

“Well, let’s just pray the next Eddie came visit me, I still hadn’t got my gun back.” Joe raised his eyebrow.

 

“I’ll see you later.” She kissed her dad goodbye before leaving the room. As she got out of the elevator, she ran into Eddie.

 

“Oh, sorry. Eddie, I didn’t see you there.” Iris apologized.

 

“It’s OK, Iris. Is Joe fine?” The blonde asked.

 

“Yeah, but you can’t visit him now. The visiting hour is over.”

 

“What?!” Eddie gasped and checked his watch. “Damn it… And did you tell him? What did he say?”

 

“Fail.” Iris emphasised and Eddie dropped his mouth.

 

“What? How?!”

 

“I wanted to tell him the truth but dad just carried on, saying how complicated it would be and he would try his best not to shoot you.” Iris face-palmed. “Oh, and he reminded me to tell you that he’s mad, and the next time you came visit him, prayed that he still hadn’t got his gun back or the conversation would be entirely different.”

 

Poor Eddie looked like he was going to cry. Why did such a simple task of truth telling become so complicated?!

 

“By the way, Barry said hi.” Iris changed the subject as they went to the canteen.

 

“That’s very sweet of him.” Eddie said before something dawned on him.

 

“What?”

 

“The night Joe was attacked… Barry called me, asking if I know where Joe was.” Eddie explained. “Getting worried, I went to call Joe but then the report of toxic gas attack came. When I arrived, Barry was already there. But that should be impossible.”

 

“Well, maybe The Streak helped him.” Iris said with a smile and Eddie nodded.

 

“Maybe he had something to do with that…” He whispered and was determined to learn more about the truth of The Streak.

* * *

 

At S.T.A.R. Labs, Caitlin, Wells and Cisco watched as Nimbus angrily pounced on the cell door containing him, yelling and changing into his gas form all the time.

 

“Will it hold?” Caitlin asked in worry.

 

“The barrier is powered by an 8.3 Tesla superconducting electromagnet, which is about 100,000 times the strength of earth's magnetic field.” Cisco explained with confidence. “In other words, yes.”

 

“He's mad.” Wells said quietly and pushed some buttons on the screen, closing the door of the particle accelerator, now served as a prison for evil metahumans. “Well, good night.”

 

“So we're just supposed to get used to working above a makeshift prison housing evil people with superpowers.” Caitlin began.

 

“You'd be surprised what you can get used to.” Wells said before rolling away.

 

“Caitlin.” Cisco called. “Could I talk to you for a second?”

 

“Sure. What's up?” She asked, though looking at his face, she had a feeling what was on his mind.

 

“It's about the night that Ronnie died. I-”

 

“Look, Cisco, I'm okay.” Caitlin said with a smile. “I thought coming down here would undo me, but thinking about what Ronnie did to protect us… It just made me love him more.”

 

The two looked at each other before they smiled, the guilt on their shoulders finally started to lessen.

 

“Come on. I need ice cream or a drink. Let's see which one we hit first.” She said and the two left.

 

“Joe's gonna be okay.” Barry told his father at Iron Heights.

 

“You know, lately I've been thinking about mom… A lot.” He confessed. “I miss her.”

 

Henry just smiled warmly.

 

“Did I ever tell you about the time you learned to walk?” He began.

 

“A couple times.” Barry chuckled.

 

“Everyone was walking before you.” Henry said as he remembered the memory he cherished so much till now.

 

“All the little babies running around the neighbourhood, not you.” He said and laughed a little bit. “But your mom was never worried. She just said, ‘he'll walk when he has someplace to go.’ and sure enough, the first time you took a few steps, you moved so quick, you didn't just walk, you started-”

 

“To run.” Barry finished. Henry’s smile grew.

 

“And you ran to your mom, Barry.” He said. “Right into her arms. You had someplace to go.”

 

Barry smiled. He nodded as tears poured down his cheeks.

* * *

 

In S.T.A.R. Labs, Wells was looking at Barry’s suit as he remembered what happened during the explosion of particle accelerator.

 

_“Dr. Wells.”_ Cisco called in the headset. _“Dr. Wells, Ronnie did it. He vented the system… S.T.A.R. Labs should hold.”_

 

“Good man. I'm on my way down.” Wells replied and he went to his secret room. He pressed on the monitor and revealed a footage of surveillance video of Barry Allen, closing the skyfall before the lightning struck him. As the younger man flew past the room and smashed into the racks containing all kinds of chemicals, Wells smiled.

 

“See you soon, Barry.” He whispered and left the room.

* * *

 

“That’s good. Both your biological dad and foster dad loves you so much.” Hunter said with a smile.

 

“I know… And I could bring the Mist down.” Barry said with a smile.

 

“You’re a miracle, Barry Allen.” Anders piped up.

 

“Thanks.” He said thankfully. “You know what? I thought being the fastest man alive would make my life easier, that I could outrun anything. Turns out, no one can outrun pain. Life is tragic. But it's also precious, and sweet, and extraordinary. And the only way I know to honour my mom's life… is to keep running.”

 

“She would be so proud of you, Barry.” Hunter said as they pulled up in front of **_Scandals_**.

 

“Well, I’m not sure if she would be proud of me for going here…” He said and his friends laughed.

 

“Smooth, dude, real smooth.”

 

“Guys! Thanks for inviting us.” Blaine said as he and Kurt got out of their own car.

 

“Don’t bother.” Anders whispered, Hunter and Barry groaned as they entered the club.

 

“Wow…” Blaine said as he eyed around the place. They got to the bar, ordered their drinks and Barry went dancing on the dance floor. Blaine eyed him in a lustful way, making Anders and Hunter wanted to vomit in disgust. The leech then turned his attention to the group.

 

“Come on guys, let’s hit the dance floor.” He said, grabbing Kurt’s hand but the paler boy didn’t seem to like the idea.

 

“You guys go.” He said.

 

“You sure?” Hunter asked with mocked politeness.

 

“Sure.” Kurt mocked as Blaine untied his bowtie and headed to the dance floor, circling Barry on the dance floor. Shaking his head, Hunter joined them so he could block Blaine away from Barry.

 

“You didn’t drink. Are you the designated driver?” Kurt asked Anders.

 

“I don’t like alcohol. I once tried to take a sip of some red wine during a family dinner but after the first sip I quickly decided that alcohol and I do not mix. So yes, usually I am the designated driver, but to be honest, they didn’t like drinking a lot too.” Anders said politely yet coldly.

 

“You’re serious? Sebastian Smythe doesn’t drink a lot? You have got to be kidding me, how else did he get laid without getting people and himself drunk?” Kurt said.

 

“Sebastian **_does NOT_** sleep around.” Anders snapped.

 

“Are you sure you’re talking about the same Sebastian Smythe? `Because that’s not what I know about him. He’s a big whore.”

 

“Oh, you poor, sweet thing.” Anders said with heavy sarcasm. “Of course you didn’t know a thing of Bas, not one thing, because you didn’t even bother to listen or talk to him. Like the bunch of moron friends of yours, you just kept on antagonizing him because of all the illusions that Blaine Anderson had. Trust me, Mr. Oblivious, that Anderson guy is not what he seemed to be.”

 

Kurt glared at Anders with an anger glint in his eyes. He was going to retort but he didn’t have the chance.

 

“Who’s not what he seemed to be?” Barry asked as he came back with Hunter, obviously he was trying to get away from Blaine.

 

“You know who I’m talking about.” Anders said coldly and Blaine came towards them.

 

“Guys, I need to use the little boy’s room, but you know… since this is my first time, would you kindly lead the way for me, Seb?” Blaine looked at Barry with this sickening puppy eyes. Anders shook his head and jumped in.

 

“Actually, I will lead you the way because I need to use the washroom too.” Anders said and dragged a surprised and annoyed Blaine away forcefully.

 

“So this is the first time both of you here?” Barry asked.

 

“Look, I’m not sure who you think you are, but stay away from Blaine. He already has a boyfriend.” Kurt said plainly and Hunter groaned in annoyance.

 

“For fuck sake, not this shit again!” He snapped and Kurt turned to glare at him. “Bas knows clearly that you and Blaine is an item and he **_does not_** try to take him away. It’s Blaine who always tries to hit on Bas.”

 

“Blaine wouldn’t do that.” Kurt declared. “He loves me.”

 

“Whatever you think, I, for one, am not sure about that.” Hunter snorted without looking at Kurt. “But I’m pretty much sure that Bas does not hit on your so called _‘perfect’_ boyfriend.”

 

“And how did you know?” Kurt mocked.

 

“Oh sweetie, I know him better than you. And I trust him; both Anders and I do, even when all of the New Directions and the Warblers turned their backs on him.” Hunter said proudly, his head held high and Barry looked deeply moved.

 

“Just stay away from Blaine.” Kurt growled.

 

“Like that will help when **_Blaine_** is the one who comes to us intentionally.” Hunter snapped. “But of course, you won’t believe it. You’re too clouded by your prejudice that you can’t even see the truth! In that case, you guys only have yourselves to blame.”

 

Anders and Blaine came back, while Anders looked very angry, Blaine was stumbling, a clear sign that the alcohol was affecting him.

 

“Hey, babe.” He whispered to Barry but Kurt thought he was talking to him. In the meantime, Barry’s phone buzzed.

 

“I think we need to get you home.” Kurt said forcefully. “Say goodbye to Sebastian, Hunter and…”

 

“Anders.” The Asian said with a fake smile. “You really have a good memory.”

 

“Bye, Sebby. Bye guys.” Blaine garbled with this stupid happy look.

 

“Bye Blaine. Bye Kurt.” Barry, Hunter and Anders said impassively.

 

“Bye you three.” Kurt forced out a smile and dragged him out of the bar.

 

“That leech is fucking annoying!” Anders snapped. “Ugh, alas, and I thought he is annoying enough when he’s sober, but when he’s drunk, it’s twenty times worse!”

 

“Barry, what’s wrong?” Hunter asked in concern and Anders stopped his rant after he noticed how dead serious Barry was looking.

 

“Barry? You okay?” Anders asked in worry and Barry read the message thoroughly again before turning to his friends.

 

“Well… Do you think yourselves are ready to face some of the enemies of the Flash?” Barry asked quietly.

 

The group looked at each other before deciding this needed to be discussed in a more private place.

 

“So let me get this straight…” Anders said as they drove. “The Rathaway Coporation* organized this major jewellery and gem fair in East Westerville Convention Centre, the main focus of this exhibition is this Glacial Heart, the largest Sapphire in the world. While everyone is excited to the event, you got a message from your team that some of your enemies are setting their eyes on the gem too?”

 

“Correct.” Barry said as they drove past the way to Dalton, earning a confused look from Hunter.

 

“Wait Anders, you drove past the way.”

 

“We’re not going back to Dalton tonight.” The driver said.

 

“We’re going to Barry’s house tonight.” Anders finished with his teeth grinding and Hunter turned to look at Barry sharply.

 

“A house? You never told me you have a house!” Hunter demanded and Barry blushed.

 

“Uh… You didn’t ask?” Barry joked. “And anyway, it is not mine in the first hand, it’s-”

 

“A gift from your billionaire friend, Oliver Queen.” Anders said flatly, Hunter just stared at the blushing metahuman.

 

“No way… Please tell me he’s joking…” Hunter asked slowly and when Barry didn’t give him any response, his eyes just grew wider. “Are you freaking kidding me?! Oliver Queen bought you a house as a _gift_?!”

 

“It’s originally one of his properties.” Barry explained, rubbing the bridge of his nose. “After I came to investigate the metahuman showing up in here, that’s Anders, by the way, I decided to stay here longer because he needs help and support, but back then, his power is not very stable so it’s impossible for him to move. Moving the team to here is out of the question too, since the metahumans would have spreading chaos all over Central City if we did. When Oliver heard about what happened, he gave the key and the house ownership to me. The basement has been converted to a training ground and a communication spot to both Starling and Central City. You can call it a base for us, if you like.”

 

“Us?” Hunter asked and both Anders and Barry looked at him oddly.

 

“You are in our team, why is it not another base of yours?”

 

“Oh… OK.” Hunter said, still a bit shocked.

 

“Stop your wild imagination.” Anders teased. “The house is not as fancy as you think. It’s not like placing the entire Hogwarts in the city. It’s quite small, actually, even smaller than Wayne Manor, Queen Mansion, Stark Mansion and Xavier Mansion.”

 

“Shut up! You’re not making it any better! Those that you just named are all freaking huge!” Hunter face-palmed. Barry and Anders just laughed as they reached the house. A three-storey high modern-designed house with a classic garden, setting each other off perfectly: The perfect definition of everyone’s dream house.

 

“I just hate you so much sometimes.” Hunter said as he slumped down in the car’s seat.

 

“To be honest, I was quite disappointed when Barry first showed me the place. I thought it would be larger.” Anders piped up and Hunter looked at him with gaping mouth.

 

“It seems you have been to a lot of houses like this…” Barry said flatly.

 

“Well, with my heritage, it is quite a go.” Anders replied quietly.

 

“Your heritage?” Hunter asked.

 

“Yeah, I will tell you about that in the future, I swear. Now, I just don’t feel right to do so. That’s also the reason why I didn’t tell the rest of the Warblers, even to the Montgomery-Chang Brothers and Tina. Because if I did, then everyone would not look at me the way they used to be. Trust me, me having three dads and one mum is not the main blow.” Anders said and the two nodded in understanding. The car stopped and Barry showed Hunter around the house while Anders parked the car.

 

“This swimming pool rocks.” Hunter said as he looked out at the backyard with the perfect view to the swimming pool from his new room. They all lived on the top floor, with Barry using the main bedroom, obviously. Meanwhile, he and Anders would take the two guest rooms. “I love swimming, and this one will surely make me want to stay in it forever.”

 

“It has temperature control, so you could practically swim in the whole year, regardless of the seasons.” Barry added.

 

“Guys, we have something more important at hand.” Anders said as he got into the room.

 

“Yeah. That’s more important than the pool, for now…” Hunter said and the trio walked along the corridor with many drawings hanging on the wall. They stopped in front of one of them, the one with arranged in a way similar to Tai Chi (太極) as a whole with four colours: bluish green, red, white and black. The patterns might look abstract, but if someone observed it with care, they would see four animals: A dragon in green; a bird in red; a tiger in white and a turtle with fangs in black.

 

Barry pressed the four animals on the paint. The first was the dragon; then the bird, then the tiger and finally the tortoise**. At first, nothing happened. Then slowly, the whole paint moved backward and revealed the staircase leading to the basement. Lights turned on automatically and the group got inside the hole. The painting slowly moved back to its original place once they were all inside.

 

“Let me guess, this is the secret pathway to reach our base.” Hunter whispered as they walked down the dimly lit stairs.

 

“You’re right. There’re two other exits in the room. One leads out to the garage, the other one leads out to woodland around the house.” Barry said as he opened the door. The room was dark and quiet.

 

“I will show you how to open the two secret doors later, but now, we need some information about the coming event.”

 

“And I think I can help you with that.” A new voice rang in the dark, causing the three men to jump. The lights turned on and the interior of the room was shown. On one side, it was a training area with various training gears and equipment. On the other side, it was filled with computers and some medical stuff, and in front of the computers, sat a young woman with shoulder-length blonde hair with a pair of glasses.

 

“Glad to see you, Barry.” The woman smirked and Barry let out a breath.

 

“Gosh, don’t scare me like that, Felicity.”

 

“Alright, alright.” Felicity Smoak laughed before turning to Hunter and Anders. She froze when she saw Hunter.

 

“Co… Cooper?”

 

**TBC…**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Iris is becoming a fangirl… XD That would be so hilarious. And poor Iris, poor Eddie and poor Joe, they were all trapped in something that caused them tremendous headache. And Felicity! Here she comes! Guys, give her a big hand. And maybe I can include some more Thallen moments in the next chapter. Stay tuned. ;)
> 
> *I’m not sure if the company of Rathaway is really like what I named, I couldn’t see the letters clearly in the show anyway. :P
> 
> **Some notes about the four creatures I mentioned in the painting: These four creatures are the sacred beasts in Taoism, China's own religion. The dragon in green represents Azure Dragon (青龍), the bird in red is Vermillion Bird (朱雀), the tiger and tortoise are obviously White Tiger (白虎) and black tortoise (玄武) respectively, why does the black tortoise have fangs? Well, to begin with, the black tortoise is actually made up of two animals: A tortoise and a snake, so calling it “black tortoise” is only half-correct. Either way, I just combined the two and give the tortoise the snake’s fangs. The sequence that Barry pressed to unlock the secret door is according to seasons. Azure Dragon represents Spring, Vermillion Bird is Summer, White Tiger is Autumn and finally, Genbu is Winter. Easy? ;) I’m not sure if Oliver Queen knew what it means, but I just amplified the fact that he knew Chinese, so he also knew some Chinese cultural things. -_-|||
> 
> Reviews are loved.


	4. Going Rogue, Operation "Thallen"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One person in the show will show up in this chapter. And I may have hinted some characters from another TV shows. Can you guess the answer?
> 
> Warning: Some violence will be involved. Like my other stories, Dalton Academy Warblers will be the protagonists (As they're my favourite.) while there will be a little of bit New Directions bashing in it. And, this story is NOT for Finn-lovers, Blaine-lovers and Mercedes-lovers, Klaine-lovers should avoid this too. Kurt-lovers… you should probably not read this either.
> 
> Slash, though nothing graphical. Don't like, don't read. Flames are strictly prohibited.
> 
> Disclaimer: Everything is AU, some characters might be OOC. English is not my mother tongue so please forgive me if there are any grammatical mistakes. I own nothing other than the OCs like Anders, Jeremy and some amendments on the plot. The rest of the characters belong to their respective owner. Chris and most of the Warblers belong to Eraman, Tory and Kynan belong to Love of Gleek.

"Glad to see you, Barry." The woman smirked and Barry let out a breath.

"Gosh, don't scare me like that, Felicity."

"Alright, alright." Felicity Smoak laughed before turning to Hunter and Anders. She froze when she saw Hunter.

"Co… Cooper?"

"What? Who?" Hunter looked at her in confusion.

"Felicity, you have met him?" Barry asked, looking a bit concern.

"Why would you be here? I thought you… you're in jail…" Felicity said and everyone in the room dropped their mouth, Hunter, on the other hand, looked like something dawned on him.

"Oh no." Hunter raised his hands in defence. "I haven't done anything illegal. You have mistaken me with another person."

He stroked his chin, looking deep in thought.

"But I think I know who you are referring to." He whispered, looking at Felicity straight in the eyes.

"Cooper Seldon, that's who you think I am, right?" He asked, though it was more like a statement instead of a question. Felicity looked at him with widened eyes.

"How… How…"

"That's ok, a lot of people mix us up with each other. Consider we look exactly the same." He continued.

"Who… Who are you? And what is your relationship with him?"

"I am Hunter Clarington, but my patronymic surname is Seldon. So yeah, Cooper is my twin brother. He was born 10 minutes earlier than me." Hunter said and it clarified everything.

"I see. But Cooper had never told me that he has a brother." Felicity said.

"We didn't have a very good relationship, just like our parents." Hunter said with a wry smile. "And after they divorced, we got separated because my father won Cooper's custody while mother won mine. I changed my surname to Clarington, the matronymic surname. After learning that he was arrested, I went visit him, telling that mother would not mind taking him in as father had made it clear that he would disown him, that bastard. But he refused to listen, I was very hot-headed back then and we got into a fight."

"A few days after, I heard he hanged himself…" Hunter whispered. "And it's all my fault…"

"He's alive." Felicity said sadly. "He orchestrated a large-scale cyber-attack which nearly brought Starling City on its knees. I had met him… he is now the leader of a cyberterrorist group called _Brother Eye_."

"Oh…" Hunter stared down, looking sad for what had happened.

"But I have a question, if you're his twin, why would you study in the high school?" Felicity asked, remembering what Barry told her about the two brothers he met in Dalton.

"I didn't finish my high school, my mother's asthma attack got more frequent after she divorced and couldn't work too hard. So in order to lessen her burden, I dropped out of school and started working." Hunter explained.

"I'm sorry." Felicity whispered.

"It's ok. At least she is in a better place now." Hunter said and everyone looked at him. "Knowing what happened to Cooper just worsened her situation and she passed a few weeks before I got the ring."

"The ring?" Felicity asked.

"The power ring." Hunter explained. "I was visiting one of my friends, Kyle Rayner, saved a family form being robbed when we were both being chosen by the rings. We were then teleported to Oa and were under training. We battled different enemies, met the Guardians of the Universe and the other three Green Lanterns from Earth."

"That must be good." Felicity said.

"Not really… especially when literally all the Green Lantern Corps were always comparing you to Hal Jordan, the first and greatest Green Lantern. So anyway, when I finished training, they sent me back and specifically told Hal to look after his two baby brothers…" Hunter deadpanned and everyone chuckled.

"I see. So they are your new bros?" She asked.

"Yeah, guys. This is Felicity Smoak," Barry introduced. "Felicity, this is Anders Fung, the metahuman I have been talking about. And you have just known Hunter Clarington, the latest Green Lantern."

"It's nice to meet you, too. Miss S-"

"Oh no." Felicity cut Anders off. "Call me Felicity, no need for the formalities."

"Felicity, it's nice to meet you." Anders greeted her warmly. "How do know Barry?"

"Well, Anders. If I tell you she will probably become Felicity Queen in the future, will you get the answer?" Barry teased and Anders stared at him while Felicity glared at him.

"Honey, you wouldn't want to know what my sisters and I have in stores. So I kindly remind you to watch your mouth." She said with a wide smile which caused sweat to appear on Barry's forehead.

"Let… Let's just start, shall we?" Barry gulped and said. Hunter and Anders looked at each other and smirked, it looked like they had smelt something for blackmail. Felicity shook her head and started to work.

"So you are the desperate one that dragged Barry to save the poisoned Arrow and indirectly helped initiate a wonderful friendship that is so envious to people like us?" Hunter asked after a while and Felicity nodded.

"Yeah, it was the only way to save him. And once Oliver decided that Barry could be trusted, their bromance just 'bomb'." Felicity mimicked the situation with her hand. "Now, Oliver has got a baby brother."

"Hey!" Barry said while blushing. Hunter and Anders laughed, they were never gonna let Barry live that down.

"Now… Why don't you just tell me how they are doing?" Barry tried to change the subject and Hunter and Anders made a mental note that they would ask more information from Felicity later.

"I've been curious about this, Felicity. When did you learn about Barry's powers?" Anders asked as he sat down on a chair.

"Oh, it was after he woke up from his coma." Felicity said as she recalled. "I visited him when he was in a coma and I asked what happened to him when Caitlin and Cisco came to visit us, but the two tell me nothing, saying it's not their secret to share. I accept and respect their decision. That's why I came to visit him."

"And he had the time?" Anders asked sceptically. "He told us how busy his job is and reminded us not to be a forensic scientist when we graduated."

"You still have your day off, otherwise it is exploitation." The blonde explained. "And as for what does the fastest man alive did on his day off… it will be better for you to ask him."

The group turned to look at Barry.

_"_ _Before the lightning bolt, if I wasn't still at the crime lab, I'd be at home chilling, but now, my days off are different. Now they aren't so lonely, I had this special routine to kill time. The lightning didn't just give me speed, as you guys all know, it also gave me friends. And on that day, I was in S.T.A.R. Labs, playing with my friends, testing my speed at the same time."_

* * *

The clock was on and the game began. It was Barry's day off and he was spending his time in S.T.A.R. Labs, playing with his friends while testing his speed, killing two birds with one stone.

"This isn't even remotely anatomically correct." Caitlin pointed out as she looked at the board.

"That's not the point, Dr. Snow." Barry laughed as he zoomed in on her before flashing away back to play Ping-Pong ball with Cisco.

"Then what is the point?" Caitlin called with a smile on her face.

"To have fun." Barry shouted back.

"And to continue your ongoing training by testing the speed of your mind, by pushing your ability to multitask." Dr. Wells called from the room. Barry zoomed in, move a chess piece before leaving again.

"I'm waiting on you, Dr. Wells." Barry teased and Wells just smirked.

"Checkmate." He quietly declared and Barry flashed in again, looking shocked.

"Wait, checkmate?!"

"Checkmate." Wells smirked again. "I guess we still have a few things left to learn, don't we, Mr. Allen?"

Just then, the alarm started ringing and everyone turned to look at the screen.

"Armed robbery at 4th and Collins." Cisco called and Barry shook his head.

"For the record, I crushed it in operation and ping pong." He told the group and left in his suit, racing to the crime scene.

"It's not as easy as it looks." Caitlin shook her head as the game board buzzer, signalling an error.

Meanwhile, Barry finally got to the scene and took down the robbers, but the driver of the armoured car was shot. Kneeling in front of the fallen man, Barry called his team.

"Where's the nearest hospital?"

_"_ _St. Andrews. Seven blocks north, two east."_

"Call the ER, tell them they have an incoming GSW." Barry called as he watched the robbers got away. Shaking his head, he took the injured driver to the hospital in a flash. Later in the day, the scene was teemed with police forces.

"Let's go. I want this locked up all the way to the end of the block." Captain Singh barked.

"Tow truck was stolen." Eddie said as he talked to his partner Joe. "Driver of the armoured car is in a stable condition at St. Andrews, and no one's exactly sure how he got there."

"Did you check the security cameras?" Joe said in a forced calm.

"Camera's storage drive was stolen. Guys are pros." Eddie replied.

"Everything's still here, including what I think they were after: the Kahndaq dynasty diamond. It was on its way to Central City Museum for exhibition." Joe said.

"Right, Iris is trying to talk me into going." Eddie said and Joe stopped dead. "I'm not much of a museum guy, but when she really wants to do something…"

Eddie realised what he had just said and started sweating. You see, after Joe was released from the hospital, both Eddie and Iris had been trying their best to tell the older detective that they were not dating. Hard luck for them, Joe refused to talk to Eddie unless it was work-related and some formal greetings. At home, he would lock himself inside his room and when Iris caught the chance to talk with him, as soon as she started mentioning the word _"Eddie"_ , Joe would change the subject and excused himself to his room. So you imagined how frustrated both Iris and Eddie were.

"I'm just going to walk away now." He humbly muttered something as Barry rushed in.

"Sorry, captain. I was at the hospital, visiting a friend."

"There's nothing missing." Joe said before Singh could start scolding Barry again. "It looks like someone interrupted a robbery. Guard says there was three of them."

"Actually, there was four." Barry said.

"I mean, that's how many I would bring if I were doing a robbery of this nature." He quickly added and started his investigation.

"That's definitely a four guy truck." He pointed at the tow truck. "A driver, two more to cover the guards, and somebody used liquid nitrogen to crack open this door, so four bad guys."

"Thank you, Mr. Allen, for your brilliant insight." Singh mocked before leaving Joe and Barry alone.

"For somebody so fast, you're a little slow on the improvising." Joe teased. "Did you see anything that could help us catch these guys?"

"Yeah, one of them lost his mask. I saw his face." Barry said and Joe knew what he needed to do.

"So look through these mug shots of Central City's most wanted, and see if you can find our guy." Joe said as he showed Barry a file filled with wanted criminals' face shots. It didn't take Barry long to find out the one he needed.

"That's him." He pointed at him, the one with a particularly fierce look.

"Damn. Leonard Snart." Joe said as he looked at the name.

"Leonard? That's almost as bad as Bartholomew." Barry joked.

"Snart ain't sexy, either." Joe joked back.

"Snart's father was a cop, a bad cop. Took his anger out on his kids until he went to prison." Joe told what he knew about this Leonard Snart.

"Snart's dad's in prison too? We should start a club." Barry whispered.

"He shows up, like, every six months." Joe explained how Leonard worked his crimes. "He cases a job for weeks before he makes his move. Then, he does the job, gets away."

"That's before The Streak was around." Barry said and Joe eyed him.

"Did you just refer to yourself in the third person?"

"I referred to The Streak, which I'm pretty sure I can top." Barry said. "I've been thinking of a new name. What do you think about The Fla-"

"Coffee break." Iris said in a playful tone with two cups of coffee in her hand.

"Thought I would bring Central City's finest java over to Central City's finest." She said but Joe seemed to be a bit indifferent.

"Thanks. I'm off caffeine." Joe patted on Barry's shoulder before taking his leave.

"My dad's been mad at me."

"No, you mean he's mad at you because you didn't tell him that you and Eddie are dating." Barry said with a slightly sour tone, which made Iris more determined to clarify one of her last doubts before implying her secret-project.

"Uh, first, that sounds like you know what's really going on, and second, do you know how he does this whole _'I'm not talking to you, but I have a whole bag_ _ **"full of judgmental looks"**_ _I'm gonna try out on you later'_ and when I tried to talk to him, he refused to listen?

"Yeah, I've been on the receiving end of those a few times." Barry sighed.

"Speaking of communications, or lack thereof, after all of these journalism classes… I got an idea." Iris said as they walked Barry's lab.

"I started a blog." She said and Barry raised his eyebrow.

"Alright, what's it about? Your brownie obsession? 'Cause, you know, you probably shouldn't broadcast that." Barry joked.

"No, something important." Iris looked really excited about her work. "Something that Central City needs to know about: The Streak."

That wiped out the smile on Barry's face.

"He's out there, Barry." Iris added with the look Barry gave her. "Rumour has it, he stopped an armed car robbery earlier. I was hoping that I could take a look at the file, and-"

"What? I'm not at liberty to discuss an ongoing police investigation with you." Barry cut her off.

"Since when, Mr. Blabbermouth?" Iris asked with a little frustration.

"Take it from someone who's been investigating the impossible since they were 11. Blogging about this is only gonna bring the crazies to your front door." Barry tried to talk Iris out but obviously, he failed.

"My blog is anonymous." Iris defended with confidence.

"Alright, well, anonymous or not, it's not safe. You never know what kind of weirdoes are out there trolling on the internet." Barry tried again but before either one could say anything, a chuckle rang. The two turned and saw a blonde standing in Barry's lab.

"I can vouch for that. The internet is full of weirdoes and nerd rage, Lots and lots of nerd rage." She said with a smile on her face. Barry looked both surprised and embarrassed while Iris raised her eyebrow.

"Hi." The blonde greeted Iris.

"Felicity Smoak." She introduced herself.

"Iris West." Iris greeted with a warm smile.

"Barry Allen." Barry added awkwardly and Felicity looked at him, trying not to laugh.

"But you both already knew that. Felicity is-"

"The girl that you met in Starling City, the computerer, right? You two worked on one of Barry's unexplainable cases." Iris recalled.

"Which, long story short was definitely explainable." Felicity finished before trying to change the subject. "So the lightning came through here?"

* * *

"Now that's awkward." Anders said.

"Well, that was what on my mind for long and I just blurted it out." Felicity said.

"I understand. That's the beauty of-"

"One more thing about human minds, Anders, I'm going to punch you." Hunter threatened.

"Jerk." Anders snapped playfully.

"But that's what I called a dramatic appear." Hunter said. "You rock, m'lady."

The group laughed and Felicity continued her story.

* * *

"Iris seems very nice, and really pretty." Felicity said as she and Barry were catching up with each other in a coffee shop. "Like, super pretty. Congratulations."

"Well, Iris isn't my girlfriend." Barry clarified. He fell silent for a while before adding, "She's just a friend who actually has a boyfriend."

"A really hot one…" He whispered, thinking no one could hear him. Unknown to him, Felicity had heard what he said. She also noticed the longing expression Barry had on his face.

"Oh… That's interesting, I guess." She said, her mind started running just as she noticed a very hot blonde man came in the shop.

"May I have a Grande Mocha with extra cream please?" He ordered in this deep mature voice.

"He's hot as usual." She heard Barry whispered and turned to look at him, raising her eyebrow.

"Uh… I mean the drink!" Barry mumbled and Felicity rolled her eyes. She and Barry were having Frappé, which is always served when cold.

"So he's the one you looked so dreamingly about? Iris's boyfriend?" Felicity asked. She smirked when Barry started blushing.

"What?!" He squeaked. "I don't dream about him!"

He said a bit too loudly because the customers next table and nearby waitresses looked at him oddly, which only caused him to blush even harder. Biting her cheeks, Felicity tried her best not to burst out laughing.

"But yes, he's Iris's boyfriend." Barry whispered.

"A very hot one, I guess." Felicity teased and Barry had to resist the urge to bang his head against the table.

"What are you really doing here? I mean, it's good to see you, but do you and Oliver need something, or-" Barry began but was cut off by the blonde.

"No, no, I came because I wanted to see you." She explained. "I heard you were out of the coma. Didn't call, didn't write, didn't race over…"

She was hinting something and it didn't take Barry very long to figure out what she was saying.

"Oliver told you?" Barry asked.

"Honestly, I heard you two talking on that rooftop in Starling City that night." Felicity explained.

"I want to see it. And by **_it_** , I mean your speed, in case you thought I was talking about something else, which I… which I was not." She added, looking a bit longing.

"Okay. If you really want to see it, we need to change our location." Barry said, smirking as they moved to a nearby park.

"Okay, you see that building?" Barry pointed at a tall building nearby. "Keep your eyes on it."

Felicity did what she was told and then, she only felt a gust of wind rushed by, then a reddish orange streak moved at the top of the said building. The next second, another gust of wind and Barry was at her side, handing her his phone with a photo of her staring from the ground.

"You took a picture of me? From the top of that building?" Felicity gasped.

"Yeah, but don't Instagram that."

"Unbelievable…" She whispered before noticing something was rising from Barry's shoes.

"Your shoes are smoking…" She pointed out and Barry stomped his feet, extinguished the flames.

"That… that's fine. It's… it happens sometimes." He said and by the sceptical look from Felicity, he added, "It's why I have a friction-proof suit."

"Where did you get that?" She asked curiously.

"I'll show you." Barry smirked and soon Felicity found herself inside S.T.A.R. Labs.

"And this is where my team monitors the police bands for criminal activity." Barry showed her around. "We can track anything that's happening in the city. Check this out. We've got our own satellite."

"I know. I've hacked into it from time to time." Felicity said as she looked around.

"Rude." Cisco added as he and Caitlin walked towards them.

"It is, of course, so wonderful to see you again, Felicity." Caitlin said with concern and. "I'm just wondering how much of our operation she needs to know about."

"I'm really good at keeping secrets." The blonde assured.

"Yeah, Felicity works with The Arrow." Barry pointed out and Felicity turned to look at him, really to scold him.

"Sweet." Cisco said in a fanboy tone.

"And you apparently are not." Felicity said flatly.

"Now it's all making sense. You know who The Arrow is… Wait, do you know who The Arrow is?" Cisco asked and Barry and Felicity looked at each other.

"Well, let's just say that my team has a similar set up, but with… More pointy objects."

"Welcome, Ms. Smoak." A new voice rang and Felicity saw Dr. Wells.

"Dr. Wells? **_The_** Dr. Wells?" She said in surprise.

"Please, call me Harrison, Felicity."

"Oh, you know who I am?" The blonde asked, looking curious and alarmed.

"Ranked second in the national informative technology competition at age 19, graduated M.I.T., with Master Degree in cyber security and computer sciences." Wells said. "I know who you are. I keep an eye out for promising talent in scientific fields."

"It's what brought me Cisco, Caitlin, and I foresaw great things from you." He finished and Felicity nodded.

"Speaking of great things, want to see something cool?" Barry said with a cheeky smile as he got into the lab.

"Show off." Felicity said as Barry got onto the treadmill.

_"_ _How fast can he run?"_ Barry heard Felicity asked from the control room.

"He hasn't reached his top speed yet, theoretically speaking." Wells replied.

_"_ _So is he really okay?"_

_"_ _His heart rate is within normal range, for him."_ Caitlin replied.

_"_ _No, I mean, the lightning bolt changed him. Do any of you really know how much?"_

_"_ _We know a fair amount."_

_"_ _If everything about him is sped up, is he going to age faster? What would happen if he ran too fast? I mean, would he just be running, and then, poof, he's dust in a red costume?"_

_"_ _Everything we do here at S.T.A.R. Labs is to protect Barry Allen. Trust us, Felicity, he is in very good hands here."_

"Want to see how fast I can run backwards?" Barry called and then, he crashed. Felicity shuddered at the force he slammed into the cushions.

_"_ _Don't worry. He heals quickly too."_ Caitlin said flatly and rolled her eyes, obviously it was not the first time Barry did something like that.

* * *

"Show off!" Hunter and Anders teased.

"Hey, she wants to know what I can do and I just show her!" Barry said while blushing.

"So you're blaming on Felicity now? That's low." Hunter shook his head.

"Jerk." Barry hissed, burying his face in his hands. Felicity, Hunter and Anders just laughed.

* * *

"Eh, I don't get it." Eddie said as he and Joe waited patiently outside the Central City Museum. "Why would Snart come here?"

"Snart's been deterred before, but once he goes after something, he doesn't stop until he gets it, ever." Joe explained and there was something Eddie was very desperate to tell his partner.

"Joe, I want you to know that Iris is an amazing woman, but you need to know, Iris and I are-"

"I ever tell you about that wild night I had my last day of college?" Joe cut him off with a fake smile.

"Uh…I don't think so. No?" Eddie asked in confusion.

"Not even after we kicked back a few beers after work?"

"We've never done that…"

"Oh, right. That's the things I do with my friends, and since we've never done those things, we ain't friends, so there's actually no reason I need to know about your dating life." Joe said.

"But-" Eddie tried but was cut off by Joe again.

"It ain't about you, Eddie, it's about her." Joe said seriously. "So as long as we don't talk about you and her, we will be cool."

Joe finished with a glare and Eddie knew the discussion was ended. Sighing in frustration, he changed the subject.

"Maybe we should just listen to the radio." He said awkwardly as he turned the device on.

_"_ _Stay with me, I can make, Make you glad you came."_

Joe spun his head and glared at his partner. Quickly, Eddie changed the channel, only to have another sensual music ringing in the air instead. This one was worse, consider what the lyrics were trying to imply.

_"_ _Let's have some fun, this beat is sick, I wanna take a ride on your disco stick."_

The glare from Joe was so hard if looks could kill, Eddie would have been dead by now. Blushing hard, he turned it off.

"Quiet is good." Eddie gulped with sweats on his forehead.

"Hey, you two." Iris greeted Barry and Felicity as they came into Jitters.

"Hey." Felicity smiled back.

"We're not a two." Barry clarified.

"Oh, no. We are a one and one." Felicity added.

"Has Barry been showing you some of the sights in Central City?"

"Yes, I have seen some pretty amazing things."

"Really? Well, if you've got some time, maybe we can show you some of Central City's night life." Iris said and Felicity widened her eyes.

"Oh, no, no. I get plenty of night life in Starling City." Felicity silently prayed Iris was not implying clubbing again.

"Oh, this is something that I don't think that you're gonna want to miss." Iris said as she showed them a pamphlet.

"Trivia night at Jitters." Iris introduced. "Eddie's not really excited about it, I admit."

Felicity eyed Barry who shifted a bit uncomfortably. His reaction didn't go unnoticed by Iris, but she continued anyway.

"But it could be our night, guys." She showed them the pamphlets.

"Our night to win $75 worth of cappuccinos." Barry said flatly, Felicity, on the other hand, looked interested.

"Uh, yum." Felicity said before checking her watch. "You know what, I'm gonna go call work, check in, make sure everything's okay. I'll be back in a second."

"Why are you doing this?" Barry hissed to Iris once Felicity was out of hearing range.

"Doing what?" Iris asked, today, she was going to clear her doubts in her brother's sexuality.

"The trivia night with you and Eddie, forcing this whole double date thing." Barry said as he followed her.

"Because that girl is great, and she happens to come from your very rare species of adorable nerds." Iris reasoned, for once, not trying to tell Barry that she and Eddie were not dating. "Why didn't you tell me more about her?"

"There's nothing to tell. She's just a friend." Barry insisted.

"Barry, girls don't just hop on trains and travel hundreds of miles to see someone that they don't like." Iris said as she put down the plate she had.

"See, this is why you need my help." Iris winked at him when Barry didn't say anything. "Bring her tonight."

Sighing, Barry thought it was time for him to come out to Iris.

"Actually, Iris." Barry said. "I have something to tell you."

"Yes?"

"I… I… I will probably never bring a woman for a date." He started sweating as Iris looked at him with calculating eyes.

"Why?" She finally asked.

"What?" That caught Barry off guard.

Iris dragged Barry to a quiet corner so no one could hear them talking.

"There must be a reason why you haven't got a date yet. But because of what? You haven't found the right one yet? They didn't appreciate your nerdiness? Calling you a freak because you believed in something impossible? If that's the case, I'm going to kick their asses for hurting my baby brother." Iris said as she crossed her arms.

"No! It's… It's… It's because I'm not attracted to women at all!" Barry blurted and Iris's eyes widened dramatically.

"I'm sorry, what?"

"I… I am gay, Iris. I didn't like women." Barry whispered.

"Please say something…" He said when he didn't get a response from Iris.

"When did you know that?" Iris asked quietly.

"From… From high school…" Barry said as he saw Iris's narrowed her eyes, that act was equal to a ticking time bomb of Iris's wrath. "I know! I didn't tell you, and I have never come out. Not because of fearing that you and Joe would shut me out, but because of what happened back then."

Barry took a deep breath.

"Too many things were bothering him. The bullies in the campus, my mother's murder… I… I just don't think I would have the time for anything romantic."

Barry looked at his sister who had not said a thing since he came out. Then, Iris's face melted into a big smile as she pulled him into a hug.

"Oh, Barry… I'm so proud of you." Her voice was muffled against his neck.

"You… You're not mad?" Barry asked in nervousness and hope.

"Oh, I'm mad." Iris said, still burying her face in Barry's neck. "But that's because you hid this important thing from me. That's all."

Barry felt his eyes started to water, and finally after all those years, a large rock was finally removed from his heart and he never felt so good, so full of freedom, like he had just learnt how to breathe.

"So, are there any hotties that caught your mind?" Iris asked and chuckled as Barry started to flush.

"Uh…"

"Alright, don't worry, you're still bringing her tonight, as I have said, we'll have fun." Iris said and Barry frowned.

"Yeah, fun." He didn't reject her offer though.

* * *

Later that night, Iris dragged a reluctant Eddie and Barry into the coffee shop just as the owner of Jitters declared the beginning of the Trivia Night. They sat down on the table with the name **_"E = mc Hammer"_**

"Party! People, who's ready to get their trivia on?" The owner declared and everyone in the shop applauded and cheered. "Okay, everybody, welcome. We've got some new challengers. Please, welcome **_"E=mc Hammer"_**.

The group cheered again as Barry started talking to Iris and Eddie.

"No, you see, I did it because E=mc2 is Einstein's formula for kinetic energy, right? And, you know, can't touch this." Barry said in a cheery voice.

"That's great, Barry." Eddie complimented sincerely, causing Barry to blush. And Iris had to use every ounce of her willpower to keep herself a straight face or she would just start giggling and squealing straight away, that would be very embarrassing.

"So where is Felicity?" She asked.

"I'm not sure. I told her it started at…" Barry said but turned away when he noticed both Eddie and Iris were looking at the door. And there she was, wearing a black fashionable skirt. Instead of dressing like attending a causal trivia night, it was like she was going to a ball. Apparently, she also realised that when she came in. Looking a bit embarrassed, Felicity walked towards them, laughing lightly all the way.

"I totally overdressed for trivia night." She laughed as she sat down.

"No, you look amazing." Iris said, wondering if the blonde was trying to hint something to Barry.

"Yeah, you do." Barry said, looking a bit awkward.

"E=mc hammer…" Felicity looked the name of their table and started laughing. "That's funny."

The rest of the group chuckled as the challenge started. Barry and Felicity began their nerdy talk, like the names of some really famous mathematicians.

"Three is Pasteur." Barry said but Felicity shook her head.

"No, no, three is Erdel, and four is Pasteur." She corrected.

"Five?"

"That's obvious, it's-"

"Descartes." The two said.

"Are they even speaking English?" Eddie asked Iris who just shook her head, that's what made Barry special and she loved it with all her heart, even she couldn't understand what they were talking.

"And the points go to **_'E=mc Hammer'_**." The owner said and the people in the coffee shop cheered.

"I knew you two would make a good team." Iris smiled.

"So, Felicity, what do you do?" Eddie asked.

"I work in computer sciences at Queen Consolidated."

"Really?"

"Do you have a boyfriend in Starling City?" Iris asked and Felicity looked a bit awkward.

"No…" Felicity hesitantly replied, she was not sure how Oliver felt about her. The billionaire had been equivocal as ever.

"I need to use the washroom." Eddie said as he stood up.

"Me too. I had too many of those drinks…" Barry said and Iris couldn't help herself, a small squeal escaped her mouth. The two men didn't hear that but Felicity noticed it.

When the two women were alone, they stared at each other, having their own inner dilemma.

"So… About you and Eddie… Are you two dating?" Felicity asked and Iris sighed.

"No, did Barry tell you that?" Iris said as she placed her head on her hand.

"Yeah."

"Actually, everyone was mistaken, even my dad. We're not dating. While I don't really know why Barry would think that, I knew my dad thought we were dating because he found the photo that Eddie and I kissed during the _'Spin-The-Bottle'_ game on one of my friend's parties." Iris explained.

"Oh dear…"

"Indeed, what makes it worse is my dad didn't want to listen to us at all. Whenever we started the conversation that involved this _'relationship'_ , he would change the subject or end the talk immediately."

"That's… frustrating."

"You have no idea…" Iris said and the two girls shook their head.

"Speaking of which, how do you feel about Barry?" Iris asked.

"Oh, he's kind and cute, a little bit nerdy, but still an adorable cutie. But don't worry, I don't have romantic feelings to him." Felicity assured her. "Besides, I believed he had someone in his mind."

"Really? Who?" Iris asked as she tried to constraint her excitement.

"Has he ever told you-"

"His sexuality?" Iris cut her off. "Of course, he told me this afternoon. And I have learnt that both Eddie and Barry are gay."

"That's sweet. Because…" Felicity said before lowering her voice and signalled Iris to lean forward. "I believed Barry has feelings to Eddie. I saw his expression when he talked about him. It's a longing and loving expression."

"Cool!" Iris whispered. "That just made my plan a lot more easier…"

"Plan?"

"Oh, I forgot to tell you. I think Eddie has feelings to Barry too." Iris said with a smile and Felicity's eyes started shinning.

"So I believe what we need to do now is to make sure if the two are really attracted to each other, if they do-" Felicity said.

"Then we will get them together." Iris finished.

"Just by imagining it…" Felicity licked her lips.

"Exactly." Iris said and the two ladies smirked.

* * *

Meanwhile, Barry was washing his hands while Eddie dried his with some paper towels. Barry looked into the mirror just as Eddie turned and the two stared at each other at the mirror. The air temperature suddenly started to go up as Barry felt his heart started beating even faster and blood started to accumulate in his cheeks. He was excused himself and headed for the door, he was just going to open it when the door opened itself to revealed a very obese man.

"Watch it!" The obese man tried to warn but it was too late. Barry had already bumped into him. He then tripped over himself and fell backward. Surprisingly, he landed on something soft and… warm… and a pair of warm arms circled his waist firmly and tightly… Wait, he didn't…

Barry looked up and saw Eddie, with his back pressed against the wall, Barry's face lay on his chest and his arms were on Barry's waist firmly, holding him on instinct, he guessed. And they were so close to each other, so close that Barry could clearly see the eyelashes of the other man, and Barry noticed that these fine hairs were golden yellow too. Barry's eyes moved downward and looked straight into Eddie's eyes… again… When having a closer look, the brilliant texture of the blonde's eyes was shown in front of him. The two sea blue orbs were bright, reflecting the lights like the sunlight reflecting on a shallow pond, but it's also deep like he was gazing into the deep ocean, full of mysteries. Every time Eddie breathed, Barry could feel the chest his face was lying on rose and fell steadily, and the strong beating of this young heart deep within, offering warmth and a strong sense of safety to him. It's like the rest of the world had disappeared and only Eddie and him remained. The warm breath hit Barry's nose, it smelt mint and chocolate…

"I'm sorry. You guys okay?" The voice of the obese man rang and it snapped Barry out of his little fantasy world. Noticing how vague they now looked, he quickly detaching himself from Eddie, he quickly excused himself and left the washroom, blushing furiously. What he didn't know is what the other man had been feeling.

Eddie felt he was in a dream. Barry Allen, the man that had appeared in his mind whenever he slept, was in his arms, his face lying on his chest. His body heat came rushing in and he could feel the silky soft hair of Barry touched his chin. Breathing in and Eddie could smell Barry's hair. And Hail Mary, the smell was so divine. Originally, he would think Barry smelt like the laboratory and full of chemicals, but no, it was a mixture of lavender, vanilla and jasmine. Eddie felt his heart started to pick up speed as his rational side was slowly giving in to the desire lurking beneath. Barry looking up at him was not helping at all, it only allow Eddie to gaze into those shining lush green irises, His pink lips slightly parted like a poor puppy lost in the forest. This scene, together with that light sweet smell was so intoxicating and alluring Eddie wanted to devour the lips with his teeth and tongue until it was swollen and red like a ripe cheery. Too bad the obese man had to snap them out of his fantasy and Barry detached himself from him. All of a sudden, Eddie felt cold and he missed the body heat from the other man already.

"I… I'm terribly sorry… I… I…" Barry stuttered but not a complete sentence could form, still blushing heavily, which reminded Eddie full blossom roses, he opened the door and left. Eddie, acting on instinct, wanted to catch him but he only stood there frozen.

"Uhm… You're not going after your boyfriend?" The obese man asked in confusion.

"What? No… He's not my boyfriend…" Eddie said and splashed some cold water on his face, trying to calm his thundering heart down but he also felt it swell when he said the word "boyfriend". Could Barry, one day, be his boyfriend or something more?

When he finally got out of the toilet, both Barry and Felicity were gone and Iris looked very unhappy.

"Alright, now spill." She said, crossing her arms as Eddie sat down again.

"What?"

"What have you done or said to Barry?" Iris demanded. "He was blushing furiously and looked like he was going to cry when he came back. We asked him what happened but he wouldn't tell us. He just left in a hurry, saying he needs some fresh air and now Felicity is chasing after him. Now, I want the truth. **_What. Did. You. Do?!_** "

"I…" Eddie said, shuddering under the glare from Iris. He had to tell her though because what happened just now was troubling him too. "Barry bumped into another man and tripped over himself. I caught him and we landed against the wall in this ambiguous pose."

Iris's eyes lit up when she heard the adjective.

"Ambiguous? Can you describe it?"

"Barry… Barry had his face on my chest, my arms around his waist. His hair brushed through my chin and we looked at each other before we untangled ourselves." Eddie said, his voice getting smaller as Iris widened her eyes.

_"_ _OH MY GOD! YES! YES! HELL YES!"_ Iris's inner fangirl started squealing.

"Wow…" She managed to say. "So do you feel something? Like he knocks on your heart?"

"What? No! I-" Eddie denied, his cheeks started to warm up.

_"_ _He's totally crushing on Barry! HELL YES! SQUEE!"_ The inner fangirl Iris squealed. She was going to press on him but Eddie's phone buzzed. He took it out and frowned at the message.

"CCPD needs me now." Eddie said and Iris put her hands on her hips.

"We're so not done talking about this." She said as Eddie took his coat and left. Soon after he left, Felicity came back in, with a straight face but glittering eyes.

"Well… What did he tell you?" Felicity asked as she sat down.

"How about you go first? Barry told you anything?" Iris asked.

"Well, he told me he bumped into an obese man which caused him to trip and fell into Eddie who wrapped his arms around him. I asked if he felt something, he denied it. But I'm 100% sure that he loved what just happened with Eddie and wanted more." Felicity said with barely constrained excitement. Iris started shaking in excitement too, a big smile hanging on her pretty face.

"So that explains why Barry had this cute red face when he got out." Iris deduced.

"And it was crystal clear that-" Felicity began.

"Barry and Eddie-" Iris piped up.

"They Are-"

"Indeed-"

"With no doubt-"

"Attracted to each other, even when they tried to deny it." The two ladies finished each other before bursting into fits of giggles.

"So… I guess you're going to implement your plan of getting them together, right?" Felicity whispered.

"Absolutely." Iris whispered back. "Operation **_'Thallen'_** is on its way!"

"Operation Thallen?" Felicity asked.

"Yeah. By combining their surnames, Thawne and Allen together, we get Thallen." Iris whispered, looking satisfied with her invention. "This operation aimed to bring the two idiots who are hopelessly in love with each other together."

Felicity's smile grew and a giggle escaped her mouth.

"Count me in." She whispered and Iris smirked.

"Welcome aboard the ship, it's ready to sail on itself." Iris declared.

"Yeah. We should start a club when we get more people to ship this pairs. Why don't we named it _'The BT Fan-Club'_? BT stands for the combination of their names: Barry Allen plus Eddie Thawne equals to Beddie Thallen." Felicity suggested.

"That's an excellent idea!" Iris said. She extended her hand and Felicity shook it firmly before the two reduced into two giggling messes again.

_"_ _You understand what they're talking about?"_ The customers nearby asked each other.

_"_ _Well, and the points go to_ _ **'E=mc Hammer'**_ _again! Congratulations!"_ The owner of the shop declared and they won the Trivia Night.

* * *

"IT'S YOU!" Barry shrieked as he pointed a finger at Felicity who simply winked at him. Hunter and Anders, were lying on the floor, one hand clutching their stomachs, the other hand banging hard on the floor as they laughed hysterically.

"This. Is. Pure. Gold!" Hunter gasped during the breaks between laughs. "Why didn't I meet you sooner?"

"Hunter and I want to join the club too. You got places for us?"

"There are plenty." Felicity smirked.

"Cool." Anders giggled and Barry hid his face in his palms just as his phone buzzed.

_"_ _Tonight is awesome! We should hang out more in Scandals, maybe we can do something funnier, something more interesting. ;)_

_XXX_

_Your True Love,_

_Blaine"_

Rolling his eyes, Barry sighed in slight disgust and pressed the **_"Delete"_** button, but before he could press **_"OK"_** , his phone got snatched away by Anders who noticed his slight mood change.

"Did this leech ever learn English?! Which part of the sentence **_"No, I'm taken"_** did he fail to understand?" Anders snapped.

"What did he do this time?" Hunter said, taking Barry's phone, his eyes started to burn a cold fury as he read.

"I'm going to punch him in the face so hard the next time I saw him!"

"What happened?" Felicity asked, looking concerned.

"Well, you know that we all joined The Warblers, which is the glee club of our school, right?" Anders asked and Felicity nodded, remembering what Barry had told her.

"Before we joined, and I'm talking about last year, they had this lead vocal called Blaine Anderson and literally everyone in the club thought he was the best, which was partly true." Anders explained. "The fact is this year, he has transferred to one of our competitors, New Directions in McKinley High because that is where his boyfriend Kurt originally comes from and he decides to transfer to McKinley so he can be with him. He kept contact with some of our club mates and visited us occasionally. So far, so normal, but two months ago, Barry invited him, well actually he dragged him in, to dance with us when we sang; such practice was very common because we love to have interactions with the audiences when we sang. But for some reason, that Anderson guy thought Barry was hinting something more."

"What?!" Felicity gasped before narrowing her eyes.

"Don't blame Barry. He didn't know it would turn out like this either." Hunter defended.

"And he had been hitting on Barry ever since. Barry has rejected him, told him no and he was taken but that leech just won't quit. What's worse, he made the rest of the Warblers and the entire New Directions thought Barry was trying to steal him away. They also refused to listen to Barry and they are not going to believe him anyway. Earlier this day, he ran into Barry when Hunter and I were using the bathroom. Then we met again together with both the NDs and Warblers and followed us to **_Scandals_**." Anders hissed in disgust. "That's why I called him a leech. Oh, and he is a lying, cheating little shit too. When we confronted him when alone, he lied that he and Kurt had split when he was actually not."

"My god…" Felicity started swearing in a low voice. "That bitch's such a whore!"

"Wait, why would he know your number?" Hunter asked. "The last time I check, he gave you a paper with his number but you threw it when he turned away."

"I know, but he still has some contacts with the rest of the Warblers, remember? He must have got it from someone else. My first group of suspects are Nick, Jeff, Wes, David and Thad." Barry reasoned.

"Now that's creepy." Anders said. "Who knows if he's secretly stalking you?"

"Ugh, no, please. That's extremely disturbing!" Hunter shook his head, looking sick.

"Can we… just talk about something else? I'm going to snap if that leech gets into my head one more time in this night." Anders sighed. "What happened next during your confrontation with Snart?"

* * *

"Someone spotted Snart." Barry said as he looked at his phone. He and Felicity were in a deserted alley and Felicity had just forced him to spill out what happened with Eddie back then. "I gotta go."

"I'll cover for you." Felicity said.

"Alright, what are you gonna say?"

"I usually tell people Oliver's at a night club with a girl or nursing a hangover."

"None of which will work for me."

"Bad stomach-ache, really bad diarrhoea." Felicity found an excuse.

"Yeah, I'm not comfortable with that excuse." Barry frowned and Felicity shook her head in disbelief.

"Just go!" She snapped and Barry took off.

When Barry got to the where Snart was spotted, the place was already in chaos. The crowds were screaming and running for cover, looking around for the criminal, Barry raced in the building until he finally spot who he needed to find… And his heart stopped, because Leonard Snart was pointing a strange looking gun at Joe, his fingers slowly pressing on the trigger. Acting on instinct, he jumped and pushed the older man away. The gun set off but instead of a bullet, a strange white column exploded, when it hit him, however, the pain was worse than anything he had felt ever since he started his superhero career, and the pain still lingered which was strange and not a good sign because normally his pain and wounds would start healing within seconds.

"You okay?"

"It… It burns." Barry panted.

"Time for a test run." He heard Snart declared. "Let's see how fast you are."

Just then, he started aiming at the fleeing people and Barry just couldn't let him kill anyone. He ran around, taking people away from Leonard's strange gun. As he did, he noticed that his speed was not as high as he used to be. And just like what Joe had told him previously, he failed to save a security guard and he could only watch in despair as the body was frozen solid. He knelt down, Joe's words rang in his ears.

_"_ _Putting on that suit does not make everybody safe. For every person you save, there's gonna be somebody you can't."_

_"_ _For every person you save, there's gonna be somebody you can't."_

_"_ _Can't save."_

_"_ _Can't save."_

_"_ _Can't save."_

"No!" Barry yelled. "No…"

"Barry!" Joe said as he got to his side, he also noticed that the wounds of the metahuman were not healing. "I think you need to go to S.T.A.R. Labs, your super-healing is not working."

Grieved and disappointed to himself, Barry reached S.T.A.R. Labs, only to hear Dr. Wells speaking in this cold furious voice.

_"_ _How long has it been missing?"_

_"_ _I don't know._ Came Cisco's nervous and horrified voice.

_"_ _I'm gonna ask you again, Cisco. But when I do, I expect a more specific answer than_ _ **'I don't know.'**_ _Now, how long has this weapon been gone?"_ Wells said like he was going to explode.

_"_ _A day, maybe two. One of the janitors didn't show up for work this morning. He was probably the one who took it. I didn't think that-"_

_"_ _You didn't think, because if you had, you would have discussed with me first. Your desire to build something that could, in theory, hurt anyone, and in particular, Barry Allen!"_

_"_ _Wait. What are they talking? Why am I in the equation?"_ Barry thought to himself.

_I'm sorry. If you just let me explain-_

_"_ _You know how I feel about weapons, Cisco. They do not belong in S.T.A.R. Labs. Now, you are gonna figure out a way to locate this gun, and you are gonna do it, right now."_

_"_ _This thing you built, what can it do?"_ Barry heard Caitlin asked in a worry and slightly scared tone.

_"_ _Bad stuff."_

Shaking his head, Barry came into the room.

"Ugh, guys. Some help please?" Barry gasped as his movement moved his wounds. Immediately, Caitlin and Cisco sprang into action.

"How do you feel?" Caitlin asked after the treatment.

"It's still numb." Barry hissed as he touched his wound.

"It's presenting itself like third degree frostbite."

"I thought he had hyper healing." Felicity, who had just got to the lab, piped up.

"It's been slowed." Caitlin pointed out. "If your cells weren't regenerating at the rate they are, your blood vessels would have frozen solid and the nerve damage would have been permanent."

"You're lucky to be alive." She concluded. "Snart wasn't another meta-human. He has some kind of gun. It froze things, slowed me down…"

Barry gulped before he continued.

"Enough that I wasn't in time to save someone."

"According to his record, Snart didn't even bother to finish high school, so how did he build a handheld high tech snow machine?" Felicity said as she looked into Snart's record.

"S.T.A.R. Labs built the cold gun."

"And I guess it has something to do with the gun that Cisco built, right?" Barry said and everyone looked at him. "You built that machine. Why?"

"Because speed and cold are opposites." Cisco explained, looking guilty. "Temperature is measured by how quickly the atoms of something are oscillating. The faster they are, the hotter it is, and when then are cold, they're slower on the atomic level. When there's no movement at all, it's called…"

"Absolute zero." Barry whispered.

"I designed a compact cryo-engine to achieve absolute zero." Cisco gulped, he hated to do this to his friend. "I built it to stop you. I didn't know who you were then, Barry. I mean, what if you turned out to be some psycho, like Mardon or Nimbus?"

"But I didn't, did I?" Barry snapped.

"We built the entire structure you're standing in to do good, and it blew up." Caitlin said. "In the wake of that, you can understand why Cisco would want to be prepared for the worst."

"I can understand that, but what I can't understand is why you didn't tell me what you did." Barry replied, but his calm quickly ran out. "I mean, after all we've been through, I thought you trusted me. I thought we were friends!"

"We are, Barry."

"I mean, if you would have just told me, I could have been prepared. But instead, someone died tonight."

"And I have to live with that." Cisco whispered.

"No, Cisco." Barry shook his head in disappointment. "We all do."

Barry turned and left, Felicity looked at the group.

"I'll go after him." She whispered and left.

_"_ _Theatregoers remain shaken after surviving tonight's brutal and bizarre attack in a downtown theatre"_

"Are you okay?" Iris turned off the TV when Joe came back.

"I'm fine." Joe said in an indifferent tone.

"How long is this gonna go on? Seems like the cold treatment is going around." Iris asked.

"Not now, Iris, please."

"Yes, now." Iris crossed her arms. "You did the same thing when I tried to sign up for the police academy without telling you. You didn't speak to me for weeks, not until I withdrew my application. But I am not withdrawing this time, dad. Eddie-"

"Eddie's my partner.

"I know."

"But you don't." Joe countered tiredly. "You're not a cop. You don't know what having a partner means. Wherever I go, he goes. And where I go isn't always safe, Iris."

"I need to be 100% focused." Joe sighed. "Now, there's a part of me that isn't focused, that doesn't see Eddie as my partner, but as your boyfriend."

"Eddie is-"

"So if he gets hurt or worse, and I'm there, how am I gonna look at you? How you gonna look at me? Now, I'm not mad at you, but that's why this is so hard for me.

Do you understand?" Joe voiced out his concern.

_"_ _Well, I think you will break Barry's heart if that happened."_ Iris thought.

"Dad, I-"

"Not now, Iris. I have a lunatic I need to catch. Just give me some time, please?" Joe said as he went back to his room. Iris just slumped down on the sofa. she wanted to throw something to let out her frustration.

"Barry? Barry." Felicity called as she went into the treadmill room.

"What? What are you doing? You should go back to your hotel." Barry panted as he stopped his run. "Get some sleep."

"You should too. Not go back to my hotel. I meant get some sleep."

"I can't." The metahuman whispered. "Every time I close my eyes, I see that man's face. I watched him die… I have to go faster…"

"Barry, it's not your fault. And it's not Cisco's, either." Felicity said and Barry turned to look at her. "I know you're upset, but you have to look at this from his point of view."

"No, I get it." Barry said bitterly. "He didn't trust me."

"Barry, when you met us, me, Oliver, and Dig, we were this well-oiled archery machine. But it didn't start out that way." Felicity reasoned with patience. "And unlike you guys, we weren't tossed together overnight. We came together one at a time. And believe me, it took much more than watching Oliver does the salmon ladder to make me trust him."

"I've seen first-hand what this life can do to people." Felicity said as she turned. "It's a lonely path. Don't make it any lonelier than it has to be."

She looked at him one more time before leaving the room.

"I figured out a way to track Captain Cold." Cisco said as he got into the room later.

"You gotta stop naming these guys."

"Barry, listen to him." Wells said as he took a sip of his drink.

"How?" He asked.

"The cold gun is powered by an engine control unit, a microcomputer that regulates air-to-fuel ratios so the sub-cooled fluid in the chambers doesn't overflow and-"

"Explode."

"Right! This E.C.U. was receiving updates wirelessly from my tablet." Cisco explained. "If I boost the signal using Central City's network and send a false update, we'll get a ping back, and then-"

"We can locate Snart." Barry said. "How long will it take?"

"First I have to hack into the City's network, so I don't know, 30 minutes, maybe?" Cisco said and Felicity shook her head.

"I can do it in less than one." Felicity smirked as she sat down in front of her computer. "When it comes to hacking, I'm the fastest woman alive."

"Ha! That was not as badass as I pictured." She whispered with a smile and soon, she completed her mission. "Alright, I'm in."

"Are you kidding?" Caitlin was in awe.

"Alright, I'm sending the updates." Cisco looked shocked. "We're connected."

"Network is triangulating the location." Felicity said.

"And we got him." Caitlin reported. "He's heading west on Nelson toward the train station."

"If he's leaving, it appears Mr. Snart may have gotten what he came for." Wells said.

"When we put our minds to it, dude, nothing can stop us." Cisco tried to joke but Barry turned off the earpiece.

"Oh, you turned your ear piece off. How are we gonna talk to each other?" Cisco asked.

"I don't feel like talking right now." Barry said as he left.

* * *

"Bad idea." Anders and Hunter pointed out.

"That's my thought at that time too, but you know," Felicity shrugged. "He is very stubborn, so he didn't listen."

"You should have listened to the women in your life, Barry. They always have cool tips and advices." Hunter said.

"Never underestimate the power of women." Anders said.

"Yeah, so don't mess with us, particularly those who can turn into a fangirl." Felicity smirked and everyone in the room except Barry burst out laughing.

"Well, you do have to understand how I felt back then." Barry said quietly.

"Yeah, I know. But that's where you need improvement. Felicity just told you: don't make your path lonelier. But you just have to do that." Anders shook his head.

* * *

At the train station, Eddie and Joe got out from their vehicle.

"We got Snart." Eddie said but Joe stopped him.

"Wait here for back up." He said and Eddie dropped his mouth.

"Wait for back up? No way!" He protested.

"That's an order."

Meanwhile, back at S.T.A.R. Labs, Felicity and the team were sitting in silence.

"You should go after Barry." Felicity began.

"You heard him, Felicity."

"He wants to do this alone."

"Of course he said that. He's hurt." Felicity stood up. "You're his team and his friends."

"And if I had a nickel for every time The Arrow told me to back off, I would be as rich as Oliver Queen, who I mention because he's the richest person I know, or used to be. The point is you have your partner's back no matter what."

"I have something that might help." Cisco smiled.

In the meantime, Barry had got onto the train where Snart had got onto. The two enemies faced each other.

"There's nowhere to run." He declared

"I didn't see you before. Your mom knows you're out past your bedtime?" Snart mocked.

"If you wanted to get away you should've taken something faster than a train." Barry retorted. Snart smiled, in a sinister and calculating way.

"That's if I wanted to get away. I've seen your weakness at the armoured car, then at the theatre. See, while you're busy saving everybody, I'll be saving myself."

He fired at the ground. The cold penetrated and froze the wheels solid. Now they are not being able to move, the train cart started to shake violently and began to derail. People screamed and Snart jumped off the train, yelling **_"Good luck with that."_** as he leaped.

Springing into action, Barry moved all the frightened passengers out of the train as it derailed, caught fire and twisted into a bunch of scrap metal. What he didn't prevent this time was to get shot by Snart's gun again, pinning him down on the ground.

"Pretty fast, kid, but not fast enough." Snart sneered as he pointed his gun at him. "Before I forget, thank you."

"For what?" Barry snapped.

"You forced me to up my game, not only with this gun, but with how I think about the job. It's been educational." Snart snarled as a new voice rang.

"Drop it." The two turned and saw Cisco, Caitlin and Felicity with a huge machine on their hands.

"This is a prototype cold gun, four times the size, four times the power." Cisco warned.

"I was wondering who you were talking to." Snart snarled.

"Unless you want a taste of your own medicine, I'd back the hell up." Cisco warned.

"Your hands are shaking. You've never killed anyone." Snart pointed out.

"There's a first time for everything, Captain Cold." Cisco mocked.

"I will shoot you." He warned. A tense moment hanged among the group before Snart decided that the risk was not worth taking.

"You win, kid. I'll see you around." He turned and left.

"Hey, leave the diamond." Cisco shouted.

"Don't push your luck." Snart called back and the group turned their attention back to Barry who was still trapped in ice.

"Couldn't shoot him if I wanted to, this is actually the S.T.A.R. Labs vacuum cleaner with a lot of LEDs." Cisco smirked, looking a bit shocked that Snart believed him.

"Let's get you warm." Felicity and Caitlin knelt down next to him, helping him get to his feet.

"Thank you." Barry muttered, shaking a firm hand with Cisco.

* * *

"Seriously?! He believed you?!" Hunter shook his head.

"Yeah, we didn't even sure if that machine we were holding looked threatening and persuasive enough to trick him, but it just happened." Felicity shrugged.

"Actually, I think that's something Captain Cold would do." Anders said and everyone turned to look at him.

"Anders Fung…"The fifth Green Lantern on Earth warned. "I swear if you start talking about human mind again, I'll-"

"If he kept on pestering, it would do him no good. He's a cautious and very calculating man. You can see that from how he made his moves. He knows when to what is suitable. A successful person knows when to stop, to quit while they are ahead. It applies to everyone, even criminals, as much as I hate to say. It's just some simple psychology."

"So I guess someone is even worse than Captain Cold." Hunter said flatly. "Because he just doesn't know when to quit."

The rest of the group groaned.

"You just have to mention that leech…" Anders face-palmed. "But I agree on what you mean."

* * *

"We've been trying to track Snart, but he must have disconnected the signal somehow." Cisco looked disappointed.

"We'll find him, Cisco, together." Barry assured him.

"You have a great team here, Barry." Felicity praised. "Speaking of teams, I should probably get back to mine."

"It was nice meeting you, Ms. Smoak. Please extend a hello to The Arrow for us." Wells called across the room.

"I will." She smiled

"Goodbye, Felicity." Barry said.

"Bye, Barry."

Felicity left and everyone looked at Barry.

"Remarkable young woman. She's special." Wells praised.

"Yeah, she is." Barry whispered before he left too.

"Cisco, don't you ever do anything like that again. Do you understand me?"

"Yes, sir." Cisco started to shift uncomfortably.

On a train with the destination to Starling City, Felicity was sitting alone in a cart, reading the blogs of **_"The Streak Live"_** that Iris had told her about when a whoosh of wind blew past and then, Barry was sitting in front of her.

" **YELP!** " She shrieked as Barry laughed.

"Did I just yelp?" She whispered.

"Yeah." Barry said as he laughed.

"I yelped…" Felicity whispered. Her eyes narrowed before slapping hard on Barry's leg.

"Ouch! I'm sorry." Barry rubbed the place she hit him. "I didn't mean to scare you."

"Don't tell me you're here to save me." Felicity teased. "Taking the train is still one of the safest ways to travel."

"I thought that was airplanes." Barry said.

"It's not. Besides, taking airplanes will take me more time." Felicity pointed out. "So, what are you doing here? Need some dating advice or how you should do to woo your destined Eddie Thawne?"

She giggled as Barry started to blush.

"I started to regret telling you my feelings to him… No, wait. You force me to spill it out. So I blame you." Barry said, hiding his face in his hands.

"Aww… Come on. Someday in the future when you rest your head on his bare chest with his arms circling firmly around your waist, you're going to thank me." Felicity teased and a giggle escaped again.

"I can't… He's probably laughing at my stupidity back then or either looking me in disgust… Besides, he already has someone in mind and it's not me."

_"_ _That's the part you're wrong, Barry. That person in Eddie's heart is you."_ Felicity rolled her eyes.

"We're sitting here, pining for people we can't have, like you and Oliver." Barry whispered.

"Hey, who said it's always like that? Maybe he feels the same to you." Felicity encouraged.

"I don't think that's possible…" Barry whispered bitterly. "I don't want to hurt anyone, not to mention the two persons that I treasured most after my parents. But anyway, thanks for accepting my sexuality. It felt so good to know someone will accept me for who I am. If you ever need anything, I will race over in a heartbeat. Bye, Felicity."

Felicity wanted to say something more like telling Barry that Eddie and Iris were not dating but Barry had left already. Shaking her head, she just wondered when this confusing relationship would straighten itself.

"Well, as fast I can run, which might take me a while, but I will still come. But for now, bye, Barry."

Meanwhile, in an unnamed motel in Keystone City, Leonard Snart was talking to one of his goons, which in turn, would become another tricky enemies of Barry: Mick Rory.

"I know it's been a while since we pulled that job. I know it didn't go so well for you, and I know I said we were finished, but things have changed." Snart spoke. "If I want to keep working in Central City, I'm gonna need a new kind of crew. I'm gonna need someone like you. You're tolerant of extremes. You have certain skills. You just need some direction, and I can give that to you."

"You still like playing with fire? You're gonna love this." Snart presented another gun he stole from S.T.A.R. Labs to Mick who took it and glided his fingers

"So… Are you in Mick? Or are you out?"

"Yeah buddy, I'm in." Mick whispered, a malice smile hanging on his face.

* * *

"Buddy, you should listen to her advice! If you had done so, S.S. Thallen would have sailed a long time ago." Anders said as they turned off the lights of their secret base. "I have told you that you need to listen more to the women in your life."

"Yeah, I know that." Barry said as they walked up the stairs to the corridor.

"But you have to **_do_** that, man. Otherwise it's useless." Hunter piped up.

"But it's pretty good to hear so much information from you, Felicity. I can see there'll be some serious teasing and blackmailing in the future." Anders said and Hunter chuckled.

"You're welcome. And I have more in stores, feel free to ask me." Felicity smirked. The three people then laughed, Barry just sighed.

"Uh… No will do." Barry said as the group stepped out the portrait and closed the secret entrance. Looking at the clock, it was the small hours already. Thank god it was Sunday.

"Well… I guess we call it a day." Barry said.

"I know where is the guest room. See you tomorrow?" Felicity said.

"Ok. See you tomorrow. We'll have breakfast at **_Aegean Breeze_**." Barry said.

"Sweet. Good night, you guys." Felicity said as she walked down the stairs to her guest room.

"Goodnight, Felicity." Hunter said.

"Sleep well." Anders said and the three superheroes went to their respective rooms.

**TBC…**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, first thing first, Poor Eddie… And how do you guys feel about that little moment between Thallen? And Felicity! OK, to be honest, I ship both Oliver/Laurel and Oliver/Felicity, but since Tommy is alive in this AU, `cause I like him, Olicity will happen while Tommy will be with Laurel, these two are just cute. And now Felicity has joined Iris's fan club! It's just getting more and more hilarious! XD
> 
> * Some notes about the four creatures I mentioned in the painting: These four creatures are the sacred beasts in Taoism, China's own religion. The dragon in green represents Azure Dragon (青龍), the bird in red is Vermillion Bird (朱雀), the tiger and tortoise are obviously White Tiger (白虎) and black tortoise (玄武) respectively, why does the black tortoise have fangs? Well, to begin with, the black tortoise is actually made up of two animals: A tortoise and a snake, so calling it "black tortoise" is only half-correct. Either way, I just combined the two and give the tortoise the snake's fangs. The sequence that Barry pressed to unlock the secret door is according to seasons. Azure Dragon represents Spring, Vermillion Bird is Summer, White Tiger is Autumn and finally, Genbu is Winter. Easy? ;) I'm not sure if Oliver Queen knew what it means, but I just amplified the fact that he knew Chinese, so he also knew some Chinese cultural things. -_-|||
> 
> Background Music used:
> 
> "Glad You Came" – Grant Gustin's version of course! It's a must!
> 
> "Love Game" – Lady Gaga
> 
> Reviews are loved.

**Author's Note:**

> A.N.: Ok, folks. This is the first chapter, how do you feel about it? Should I continue or not? It's up to you.
> 
> By the way, I decided to make the location of Starling in Pennsylvania. And I want to say that the location of Starling City confused me to no end. While in both shows “Arrow” and “Flash”, Central City was known to be located in Missouri near Kansas, Starling City had a ZIP code and coordination near Seattle, Washington. But if that was correct, how could the distance be 600 miles? The last time I check, the straight line distance between the two states is more than 1700 miles. By comparison, the distance between Pennsylvania and Missouri is more believable, though it was still 900 miles instead of 600 miles, so… that’s a bug cannot be solved.
> 
> Reviews are loved.


End file.
